There is unlikely a Democrat now in Washington, D.C., unaware of just how unpopular and distrusted their party has become in recent years, particularly under the co-captaincy of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — whose average disapproval ratings according to RealClearPolitics are 46.1% and 28.6%, respectively.
The disapproval rating for the party as a whole was 58.3% as of May 25, according to polling by the Economist and YouGov.
The bad news for Democrats just keeps on coming — and CNN talking head Dana Bash proved willing to deliver more of it to Jeffries in person over the weekend.
A new CNN survey conducted by SSRS and published Sunday revealed just how worthless the Democratic Party has become in the eyes of most Americans: Only 16% of Americans regard the Democrats as the party with strong leaders. By way of comparison, 40% of respondents characterized the GOP as the “party with strong leaders.”
When asked which party “can get things done,” 19% of respondents said the Democratic Party and 36% said the GOP.
A plurality said in response to both questions that the right answer was “neither party.”
RELATED: Scott Jennings drops reality check on CNN — Dems’ support for boys in girls’ sports, illegal aliens destroying their brand
Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
When broken down by party affiliation, only 39% of self-identified Democrats said their party had strong leaders, while 13% of Democrats admitted the other party had the stronger leaders. Alternatively, 85% of self-identified Republican respondents said their party had strong leaders, and only 3% said the Democrats had strong leaders.
There was similarly low confidence on the part of self-identified Democrats when asked whether their party was effective: 49% said their party gets things done, while 8% instead said the GOP was the more effective party of the two. Conversely, 81% of Republicans said their party was effective, and, again, only 3% said as much of the Democrats.
When asked which political party’s views resonate with their own, respondents chose the GOP over Democrats when it came to: the economy, 38% to 31%; immigration, 39% to 33%; crime and policing, 40% to 27%; taxes, 37% to 30%; and the federal budget, 34% to 29%.
‘They’re frustrated with you as well.’
The Democrats had an edge with respondents on the following topics: “protecting American democracy,” abortion, “the way society deals with racial issues,” “the way society deals with LGBT issues,” and climate change.
Despite this and other polls painting his party in a negative light, Jeffries took a page out of Schumer’s book of recent failed plays and questioned President Donald Trump’s popularity in an interview Sunday with Bash, calling Trump “the most unpopular president at this point of a presidency in American history.”
RELATED: Chuck Schumer takes a shot at Trump’s approval ratings, then scores on his own net
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Dana Bash welcomed the congressman’s segue into the network’s damning graphics highlighting the public’s low confidence in the Democratic Party’s leadership and efficacy.
“It shows that only 19% of Americans say that your party can get things done; 36 say the same about Republicans,” said Bash. “And just 16% say your party has strong leaders. It’s pretty rough, and you are one of those leaders. How do you turn that around?”
After a pregnant pause, Jeffries said, “Yes, we don’t have the presidency right now, so that’s always going to be challenging a few months after a presidential election.”
The Democrat identified various causes of voter frustration, prompting Bash to note that “they’re frustrated with you as well, with Democrats as well.”
Jeffries again tried to shield his party from accountability, noting, “Of course — they’re frustrated with the system.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Read the full article here
