Donald Trump’s landslide victory over Kamala Harris, Democrats’ second nominee in last fall’s campaign, has turned from election night celebration to the business of running the country.
Six months later, Democrats remain deeply pessimistic about the future of their party, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Only one-third of Democrats are “very optimistic” or even “somewhat optimistic” about the party’s future, the poll found.
That’s down from 60% who said they had a positive outlook last July – the month in which Joe Biden exited the race to make way for Harris.
But if the party is wobbling along the ledge of destruction, Republicans can’t seem to gather the strength for the push.
If Democrats are looking for a life preserver, Steve Deace, a Blaze Media show host, says he has one they can rely on.
“It’s Republicans in Congress,” Deace said on American Family Radio Thursday.
Indeed, Republicans control both the House and Senate and should be the mechanism to help enact much of Trump’s agenda – border security, gender clarity, support for law enforcement, support for energy initiatives and more – but progress has been slow.
The same poll found that 44% of Republicans are something less than optimistic about the future of their own party.
“This Republican Congress is doing absolutely everything it could possibly do to nuke itself, and it is doing everything it could possibly do to make Donald Trump a lame duck president, essentially, the first Wednesday of next November (2026),” Deace told show host Jenna Ellis.
Republicans had a five-seat majority at the beginning of the 119th Congress, but the Democrats have two vacancies after the deaths in March of representatives Sylvester Turner of Texas and Raul Grijalva of Arizona.
Republicans have 53 seats to Democrats’ 45 in the Senate. Independents Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine caucus with Democrats.
Deace’s take on Republicans is supported by another poll, a Rasmussen survey that highlights frustration from Republican voters for lack of achievement from their Capitol Hill majorities.
Country likes direction, lukewarm on parties
“The right-direction polling for our country is off the charts, better than it's been in 20 years, but Congress is getting rated poorly, especially by Republicans, and that is a really bad formula for the midterms,” Mark Mitchell, chief pollster at Rasmussen Reports, said on Washington Watch Wednesday.
“Only 16% of Republicans rate Congress as excellent right now, and when asked do you agree or disagree with his statement, Republicans in Congress are not delivering on the mandate given to them by the American people, 60% of Republicans agree with that statement, 25% strongly, only 13% strongly disagree. These numbers are going to get worse,” Mitchell told show host Tony Perkins.
One reason for the discontent among Republican voters is they perceive their leaders as ignoring the low-hanging fruit, Mitchell says.
They’ve not enhanced election integrity by passing the SAVE Act or compliance with immigration laws by passing e-verify legislation.
“They haven’t codified any of Trump’s anti-LGBT executive orders into law. (For voters) it's like, ‘let’s up the pace,’” Mitchell said.
GOP congressmen hope such measures are coming soon.
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Georgia), a guest on the Washington Watch program Wednesday, highlighted current bill language through the committee process that denies federal funding for gender-manipulation procedures.
In addition, there’s no federal funding for abortion, which would be a big win for Republicans in their long fight to weaken Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading provider of abortion services.
But that language still has to be passed by the entire House. It’s not a given that Republicans in swing districts in blue states will be on board.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Indiana) told Ellis earlier this week that while the budget reconciliation bill could pass, as many as six or seven House Republicans would possibly vote against defunding Planned Parenthood if it appeared as a stand-alone measure.
“This is why you’re seeing that Republicans are only slightly more optimistic than they were at this time last summer. You guys are seeing the same thing I am,” Deace said.
Trump’s EOs have expiration date
What’s being seen is a President who is acting unilaterally whenever the opportunity presents itself, Deace said.
Trump’s numerous executive orders, however, come with an expiration date. They’re valid only until the next President signs his own executive orders.
In an X post and video published this week, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) complained his own party is failing to codify Trump's executive orders into law.
"I'm incredibly frustrated this morning," he states. "America realizes what's going on. Congress needs to wake up."
Burchett reportedly published that brief video after confronting House leadership in a closed-door meeting over a lack of action.
Meanwhile, neither political party is especially popular right now. Overall, about four in 10 U.S. adults have a favorable view of the Republican Party while about one-third have a positive view of the Democratic Party.
This relatively weak support extends to some of each party’s most prominent officials, The Associated Press reports.
Roughly four in 10 Americans have a favorable view of Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who has twice run for the Democratic presidential nomination and has toured the nation in recent months rallying anti-Trump resistance. Among self-described Democrats, about three-quarters view Sanders favorably.
About half of Democrats have a favorable view of Ocasio-Cortez, who has joined Sanders on the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. She is less popular among U.S. adults overall — about three in 10 have a favorable opinion of the 35-year-old representative, who is sometimes mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2028.
Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, is less popular than Sanders or Ocasio-Cortez, the poll finds.
That’s especially bad news for a party trying to find its leader, Deace says. The Republican-led Congress may have its warts, but the party knows its leader is Trump.
Eventually, Congress has to better support Trump for Republicans to get full value from this window of opportunity, Deace said.
“It’s really the Trump administration against the world, right? There really is no wingman. I mean, Maverick’s out there without Iceman, okay? There’s no wingman. There's nothing happening at the U.S. Congress whatsoever,” Deace said.
Can one party earn public trust?
Public opinion places neither party in a good light right now, but Democrats may be in the tougher spot.
The void in leadership for Democrats leaves Republicans, if they can find their way, the opportunity to gain some public trust.
“You’re seeing polls that Jasmine Crockett and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are their most recognizable figures. We’re talking about variations of the Kamala Harris theme,” Deace said.
Some of the Democrats’ most successful modern-day politicians, Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, had a way of appealing to centrist voters even when their message didn’t say “centrist,” Deace said.
“So, without a charismatic leader, someone who is inherently likable to the average normie out there, without that person as a package, as the front for what they're selling to the American people, it has just not been bought. They don't have that (leader) right now, and I don't know that person's even on the immediate horizon,” Deace said.
