The Democratic Party is staring down a political crisis of historic proportions. According to a new Wall Street Journal poll, Democrats now have the worst favorability rating recorded in 35 years, an alarming signal for a party still reeling from its 2024 losses and struggling to reconnect with voters.
The new survey finds that 63% of voters hold an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party—the highest share in Journal polls dating to 1990 and 30 percentage points higher than the 33% who hold a favorable view.
Even more damning: just 8% of voters view the Democratic Party very favorably, compared to 19% for Republicans. The survey, conducted by Democratic pollster John Anzalone and Trump’s former pollster Tony Fabrizio, paints a bleak picture for Democrats on nearly every major issue.
In some cases, the disparities are striking. Disapproval of Trump’s handling of inflation outweighs approval by 11 points, and yet the GOP is trusted more than Democrats to handle inflation by 10 points. By 17 points, voters disapprove rather than approve of Trump’s handling of tariffs, and yet Republicans are trusted more than Democrats on the issue by 7 points.
Incredibly, even where Trump himself falters, the GOP still holds the edge. The Journal poll found voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of inflation and tariffs—by 11 and 17 points respectively—yet still trust Republicans more than Democrats on both issues. In a political environment where dissatisfaction is rampant, the Democrats have somehow managed to appear less trustworthy than the very administration they seek to oppose.
“The Democratic brand is so bad that they don’t have the credibility to be a critic of Trump or the Republican Party,” said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster who worked on the Journal survey with Republican Tony Fabrizio. “Until they reconnect with real voters and working people on who they’re for and what their economic message is, they’re going to have problems.”
The data also reveals a shift in voter identification that could spell disaster for Democrats in 2026. For the first time in decades, more Americans now identify as Republicans than Democrats in a stark reversal from 2017, when Democrats held a six-point advantage.
Although Democrats maintain a slight lead on a generic congressional ballot (46% to 43%), that advantage is half what it was at the same point during Trump’s first term. Combine that with dwindling fundraising numbers—Republicans ended the first half of 2025 with over $80 million on hand compared to just $15 million for Democrats—and the warning signs are hard to miss.
Simply put, the numbers don’t lie: the Democratic Party is in deep trouble, and voters are noticing.
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