Even as the MAGA movement eats its own tail in response to Donald Trump and his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, Democrats are netting record-low approval ratings.
According to a Wednesday poll released by Quinnipiac University, approval of congressional Democrats is down to a historic low of just 19 percent. Seventy-two percent of those polled said they outright disapproved, while 10 percent didn’t give an opinion.
“This is a record low since March 2009 when the Quinnipiac University Poll first began asking this question of registered voters,” the university wrote.
Even among registered Democrats, approval for the minority party is underwater: “39 percent approve of the way the Democrats in Congress are handling their job, while 52 percent disapprove and nine percent did not offer an opinion,” the poll found. This is compared to 77 percent of registered Republicans who approve of the way their party is performing in Congress.
“If the approval numbers for Republicans are bad … then the approval numbers for Democrats can be characterized as flat out terrible,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement released along with the survey results.
A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released earlier this week also found the Democratic Party trending in the wrong direction, with an approval rating of 40 percent and a disapproval rating of 60 percent, with both numbers worse than they were in June. “Democrats are doing a good job throwing jabs at the administration but that’s not helping them with their own image, which remains in the cellar,” Mark Penn, chair of the Harris Poll, told The Hill in an email.
Democrats have not mounted much resistance to Trump and the GOP’s dismantling of the federal government or constitutional abuses since the president took office for the second time in January. The party hasn’t had much recourse considering Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but their attempts to hold the administration in check have largely been symbolic.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) gave a lengthy floor speech to briefly delay the passage of the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” which is expected to result in millions of Americans losing their health coverage, earlier this month. Jeffries also posted a photo of himself holding a baseball bat, promising that Democrats “will keep the pressure on Trump’s One Big Ugly Bill.”
The bill passed, of course, and Trump mocked Jeffries at a signing ceremony the following day.
Democrats are currently trying to make hay out of the Trump administration’s shambolic handling of the Epstein files. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) introduced an amendment to the GENIUS Act, a cryptocurrency bill, calling for the files to be released. Republicans voted the measure down.
“Something that we are seeing now as part of the strategy is making sure people know: if Donald Trump doesn’t have your back on [the Epstein files] — which has been such a big part of Republican Party and MAGA lore for years — what else does he not have your back on?” asks Pat Dennis, president of the Democratic research group American Bridge 21st Century. “Does he not have your back on Medicaid? On Social Security? On the economy? On public safety issues?”
Trump may not have Americans’ back on the issues affecting them, but he and Republicans are poised to stay in power unless Democrats can convince the country they have what it takes to deliver where the other side is failing. So far, they haven’t been able to do so.
www.rollingstone.com
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