With President Donald Trump’s approval rating deep under water, and Americans’ views of his handling of the economy over 20 points more negative than they were on inauguration day, a naive observer of US politics might expect the Democrats’ fortunes to be rising.
Nothing of the sort. A recent CNN/SSRS poll from March 2025 found that just 29 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of the Democratic Party. That is the lowest number since SSRS began asking the question in 2002.
This overwhelmingly negative public sentiment toward the Democrats was confirmed by a new study of voters in four Rust Belt states (Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) conducted by the Center for Working-Class Politics (CWCP), the Labor Institute, and Rutgers University. It found that over 70 percent of Rust Belt voters hold a negative view of the party.
But the CWCP/Labor Institute/Rutgers survey went beyond simply asking respondents how they felt about the party. Rather, the researchers wanted to know if there was a discernable negative effect of running as a Democrat versus running as an independent in the four states tested. To answer this question, the survey tested respondents’ favorability toward economic populist candidates who employed identical language around corporate greed, lowering costs, and protecting jobs — except that some were described as Democrats and others as independents.
The result was stark: candidates described as Democrats performed 10 to 16 points worse in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio than otherwise identical independents delivering the same pitch. Pennsylvania was the lone outlier where this “Democratic penalty” did not appear. The drag was largest among working-class, Latino, and rural/small-town respondents — precisely the blocs Democrats must win to carry the key working-class-heavy battleground states.
Next, the CWCP/Labor Institute/Rutgers researchers wanted to know why so many people dislike the…
Auteur: Jared Abbott
