Democrats' Midterm Strength Masks Fierce Divides and Frustration, Poll Shows

The Democratic Party is entering the midterm elections with the political winds at its back but a fiercely dissatisfied and divided voter base that is trying to steer the party in wildly divergent directions, a New York Times/Siena poll found.

More than half of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents expressed frustration with the party, despite the fact that Democrats appear well positioned to take the House and compete for the Senate in November. Registered voters favored Democratic candidates over Republicans by 10 percentage points, a sizable margin less than six months out from the midterms.

But beneath that strong showing, unhappiness spanned almost every part of the party's coalition -- including young, white, Black and college-educated voters -- and was especially strong among Democrats least attached to the party, who are the most likely to swing elections.

"Nothing seems to work," said Raymond Gretz, 57, of Naples, Florida, who said he wanted to see his party push back more vigorously on President Donald Trump. "I'm frustrated that they're not doing more, but everything they do seems to fail. It's kind of unbelievable."

The poll captured a combative, antiestablishment mood within the Democratic Party that appears to be reaching a boiling point. And there were abundant signs of a fractured coalition with at times contradictory views about the party's best path forward.

While a majority of Democratic supporters said they were generally happy with the party's ideological positioning, 52% said the next Democratic presidential candidate should move the party to the center in order to win. Only a quarter said the next candidate should move the party to the left.

Still, the economic populism pushed by a growing number of Democratic midterm candidates has found a receptive audience. More than 80% of the party's backers thought the political and economic system should be torn down entirely or needed major changes, and nearly 90% called the economic system unfair.

Democratic supporters were also more inclined to want the party to move to the left on healthcare, and continued to sharply shift their sympathies away from Israel and toward the Palestinians.

On issues like immigration and crime, though, more wanted to see the party move to the center rather than to the left.

The Democratic exasperation and disagreements may well end up being papered over in the midterm elections, with Trump's approval rating sinking, gas prices rising and Democrats energized to defeat Republicans up and down the ballot.

Yet they are an early indication of the intraparty battles to come the moment the midterms are over.

Desires for Moderation and Populism

Frustration with the party was evident among both left-wing and more moderate voters -- not to mention the general public, with 70% of all registered voters saying they were dissatisfied with Democrats. Sixty-four percent said the same of Republicans.

"They've got their eyes all on the wrong narratives," said Robert Curtis, 62, a Democrat in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Curtis, who is Black and Native American, said he perceived the Democratic Party as overly focused on the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans, at the expense of fighting back against the Supreme Court, which recently moved to further weaken the Voting Rights Act.

Democrats were divided when it came to transgender issues, which Trump focused on heavily in his 2024 campaign. Thirty-six percent said they would personally like to see the party move to the center on transgender issues, while 30% wanted it to move to the left and 30% did not want it to move in either direction. But when it came to the best strategy to win in 2028, Democrats were less likely to see moving to the left as the best option.

Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents were more united, though, in their desire to move to the middle on immigration and crime.

"There were some truths about immigration that Donald Trump homed in on," said Patricia Soto, 77, a Democrat in Pinecrest, Florida. "The Democrats need to underscore that this is a nation of laws and regulations that are fair."

Still, she stressed, "We do need to address the immigrants that are already here without vindictiveness, without making them all the bad guys, because that's not true."

In the survey, Democratic backers were in a more liberal, and certainly populist, mood when it came to pocketbook issues.

When presented with two opposing economic visions, more than two-thirds of Democratic supporters said they favored a candidate who would "go after corporate monopolies and price gouging," while just 30% preferred a candidate who promised to lower prices by easing housing regulations and expanding energy production.

Half wanted the party to move to the left on healthcare, and they were more than twice as likely to view socialism favorably as unfavorably. Younger Democrats and those with a college degree were especially likely to favor a move to the left on economic issues.

"While I think the Democrats are going in the right direction with their, like, 'Medicare for All' plans and everything, I would want to see that go further," said Jacob LeClaire, 29, a Democrat in Humble, Texas. He pointed to Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City as a model.

Voters who identified as independent but leaned toward the Democratic Party were especially likely to be dissatisfied with the party's direction. Nearly two-thirds of Democratic leaners, as they are sometimes known, expressed dissatisfaction, compared with 44% of those who identified as Democrats.

One Area of Unity: Opposition to Trump

Few things unify Democrats like opposition to Trump, whose approval rating among Americans overall has sunk to a second-term low. Among Democrats, he is at 5%.

But the party has clear disagreements about how hard to push back against the president.

Forty percent of Democratic supporters said they were satisfied with how much the party was fighting back against Trump, while 58% expressed dissatisfaction.

Democratic men and younger Democrats were especially likely to say they were not satisfied with how the party, locked out of power in Washington, was opposing the president.

"They haven't convinced the American voters that they have a good issue that they've been fighting back on, such as healthcare," said Gary Levenson-Palmer, 75, of Manchester, California.

Levenson-Palmer said that in general, he wanted to see the Democratic Party shift further to the left. But, in another reminder that voters do not fit neatly into ideological boxes, he said that Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York -- the Democratic leader who has frustrated many in his party, especially progressives -- was "doing a fairly good job of what he can do."

Among Democratic supporters, Schumer was viewed slightly more negatively than positively, though 35% of Democrats had not heard of him.

Democratic voters have loudly demanded generational change, especially after former President Joe Biden's disastrous reelection bid.

Still, in the poll, Democratic attitudes were more mixed, with 49% saying it was important to choose leaders with a fresh approach and 48% wanting leaders with proven experience.

Against the Iran War and Skeptical of Israel

Democratic backers were also largely in agreement on foreign policy issues.

Nearly all -- 95% -- opposed Trump's decision to go to war with Iran and 84% thought it was not worth the costs.

And the survey illustrated how support for Israel has eroded amid anger over the war in the Gaza Strip and, now, the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Nearly three-quarters of Democratic supporters now oppose military aid to Israel, up from 45% three years ago.

And nearly half of Democratic backers said the party was too supportive of Israel. Sixty percent said they were more sympathetic to Palestinians than Israelis, compared with 15% who were more supportive of Israel.

Hannah Akey, 29, of Saranac, Michigan, said the party's approach to "the issues in Gaza, the issues with healthcare, the issues with immigration" suggested that Democrats were trying too hard to accommodate right-leaning voters.

The lopsided numbers on Israel come at a time when some Jewish Democrats have described feeling increasingly politically homeless.

More broadly, Democrats have grown less interventionist as Trump has leaned into foreign conflicts, with 56% urging a focus on problems at home, rather than on world affairs, up from 37% in 2024.

Whatever the internal divisions, 95% of Democratic supporters said they planned to vote for the Democratic candidate in their district this fall. Even dissatisfied Democrats reported a high likelihood to vote.

Soto, of Florida, urged her party to be more aggressive in its messaging.

"The Democrats are always 'no, we're not communists' -- it's all defense instead of offense," she said. "We need to be more on the offense. We have a lot to lose."

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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