After a roller coaster of political victories and hurdles — from widespread November election wins to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — a new national poll shows that congressional Democrats’ net approval is tanking.
A Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday highlighted the lowest job approval rating for the Democrats in Congress since the poll first asked this question 16 years ago.
Of voters questioned, 68% disapprove of the way Democrats in Congress are handling their job, while 18% approve.
“The question is: How low can you go?” Harry Enten, CNN’s senior data reporter, said on the network. “These are truly horrific numbers. They’re in the trash bin of history. That is how low these approval ratings are.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee posted a CNN video clip to social media with the caption, “More abysmal numbers for Democrats.”
“Democrats, in the minds of the American public, are lower than the Dead Sea,” Mr. Enten said.
Among Democrats, a plurality disapproves, at 72%, compared with the 19% of Democratic voters who approve.
“When you can’t even get plurality approval among your own party, you know you’re doing something wrong in the eyes of the American public,” Mr. Enten said.
This poll comes amid a generational effort to rebrand the Democratic Party in an effort to reclaim a House majority in 2026.
In 2024, the party saw sweeping losses to give Republicans a political trifecta across the White House, House, and Senate.
Still, the poll displays hope for Democrats. If the election were held today, 47% of voters say they would want to see the Democratic Party win control of the House, while 43% favor the Republican Party’s majority.
“A family squabble spills over into the holidays. Democratic voters want their party to hold the reins of the House but are not the least bit happy about what they are doing at the moment,” Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy said.
To gain control of the House, Democrats need a net gain of three seats in next year’s midterm elections.
While Republicans have better numbers, most voters still disapprove of the way the Republicans in Congress are handling their job, at 58%, while 35% approve.
When it comes to Republican voters’ opinions of how their congressional members are doing their job, 77% approve and 18% disapprove.
