Just 19% of voters questioned in a new national poll give Democrats in Congress a thumbs up on how they’re handling their duties, with 72% disapproving.
That’s an all-time low since Quinnipiac University first began asking congressional approval questions in their surveys 16 years ago.
The Democratic Party has been in the political wilderness since November’s elections, when Republicans won back control of the White House and the Senate and defended their fragile House majority. And Republicans made gains among Black, Hispanic and younger voters, all traditional members of the Democratic Party’s base.
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Since President Donald Trump’s return to power earlier this year, an increasingly energized base of Democrats is urging party leaders to take a stronger stand in pushing back against the president’s sweeping and controversial second-term agenda. Their anger is directed not only at Republicans, but at Democrats they feel aren’t vocal enough in their opposition to Trump.
And that’s fueled a plunge in the Democratic Party’s favorable ratings, which have hit historic lows in several surveys this year.
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The trend is reflected in the new Quinnipiac poll, which was conducted July 10-14.
Just 39% of Democrats approve of the way Democrats in Congress are handling their jobs, with 52% disapproving and 9% not offering an opinion.
“The approval numbers for Democrats can be characterized as flat out terrible,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said.
While the approval ratings for Republicans in Congress aren’t as “terrible” as the Democrats, they’re nothing to brag about.
Only a third of voters questioned in the poll said they approved of the way congressional Republicans were handling their duties, with 62% giving them a thumbs down.
But just over three-quarters of Republicans (77%) said they approved of the way GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill were handling their jobs, with just one in five disapproving.
Forty percent of respondents approved of how Trump is handling his job as president, with 54% disapproving.
Trump’s approval ratings were in positive territory during the first weeks of his second tour of duty in the White House. But the president’s poll numbers have been underwater in most, but not all, of the latest national surveys.
Presidential and congressional approval ratings have long been closely watched barometers ahead of a midterm election.
Republicans will be defending their slim House and Senate majorities in next year’s midterms, and will also be facing traditional headwinds that hamper the party in power.