The GOP Isn’t Too Popular. Guess What? Neither Are Democrats.

A new survey shows that voters aren't impressed by either major political party.

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Depending on where you spend your time on social media and which cable networks you watch, you might think that the GOP is taking the country to hell in a handbasket. The GOP is routinely criticized for its hypocritical leadership and the fractured state of the GOP is problematic for many. But new survey data make it absolutely clear that despite the people fleeing the Republican party aligning themselves with Democrats, the Democratic party is, in fact, equally and in some cases more disliked by Americans at the moment. 

Neither Democrats nor Republicans are perceived to be meeting the needs of America well as we head into the November election. While many are unhappy with the Republican party, its leadership and its handling of COVID-19, it is a mistake to believe that the Democratic party is widely admired and that its policies are being embraced by most Americans—this is simply untrue. 

Thanks to a new national study as part of AEI’s Survey Center on American Life, survey data not only shows that Americans have overwhelmingly negative views of both parties, but also that these ratings are far worse than the traditional favorability metrics that have been used for decades. 

In fact, neither party garners a favorability rating better than 50 percent: Just 37 percent of Americans have a favorable or very favorable view of the Republican party; Democrats fare slightly better at 45 percent.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Matmos

    For those interested in why the parties are the way they are, I recommend the podcast The Long Game by Jon Ward. He argues that the issue is that the parties have become too weak and are not able to impose discipline, so that individuals go around grandstanding to win their primaries rather than working for the good of the party. He also argues that sunshine laws have made it harder to go into the back room to make a deal. Interesting and counterintuitive exploration of the institutional constraints that have gotten us into this mess.

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    Bill B

    So voters aren't impressed with either political party? Some mysterious Other must have elected them to office. Not mine - he/she's a good one!! It's all those other ones.

    Let's find the rat-b*%$ards who elected them and give them a good drubbing!!

    "... 38 percent of Americans see the GOP being dangerous to the nation’s future, but a similar number (37 percent) feel the same way about the Democratic party."

    LOL And 25% of us think they're both clueless and dangerous.

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  3. CatoTheElder

    Honestly, who can blame 'em? Given the race-to-the-bottom, hyper-prevaricating, continual mud-slinging nature of our politics, it's perhaps remarkable the numbers aren't actually worse. I can't think of more than a handful of politicians on either side of the aisle whom I would trust to give good directions to the nearest lavatory, and fewer that I would want to trust with anything as important as choosing tonight's dinner menu. And their reputations are well-earned, by and large.

    McConnell is a highly skilled politician and master of the arcane game of American politics, but it's not clear that even his family thinks there's any moral fiber to his makeup. Schumer looks a little less like a muppet in a suit than does the current Majority Leader, but he's as partisan as they come, unwilling to acknowledge that there might be some members of the opposing party that haven't tried to drown kittens and run over old folks at least three times each since breakfast today. Pelosi is a little less rough-edged than Schumer and McConnell, but no less given to skullduggery or a neat little shiv in the back when the occasion calls for it. Steve King, who lost his primary battle to run as the incumbent for his Iowa congressional district (thanks be to Zeus and Hera!) is a racist embarrassment to the species, but while he was losing, a QAnon-believer conspiracy diehard (Marjorie Taylor Greene) won the GOP primary for Georgia's 14th district, and is likely to be going to DC come January. The list goes on and on, on both sides of the aisle.

    I am constantly reminded by the behavior of the leadership of each party of how in the big wars of the early 20th century it was common for propaganda to demonize the enemy in ways we seldom see any more, at least outside of politics. The GOP is portrayed as Zombie Nazi stormtroopers, the Dems as secret Communist mass-murderers of the Pol Pot variety. When the base groups of each party are fed a constant diet of this sort of thing, it's no wonder that they start to believe that the only proper response is to "own the libs", "cancel the Repugnicans", double down on the latest conspiracies, and refuse to come out of their bunkers of blue and red. Pretty soon it'll be like the Bloods and the Crips, and driving a Subaru in rural Arkansas will be death-defying, as will be driving a big-ass Ram truck in Portland.

    They say we get the government we deserve. Which tells me we've been very, very bad.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Paul Hoover

      Thanks, Cato. You had me chuckling by the third sentence.

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  4. Ingenero.lux

    To quote a sign I saw outside of Portland: “Any Sane Adult, 2020”. Yes, I’m sure I will be told this was a Biden supporter - but their other, more profane, sign simply enforced they think both major parties are nuts. It’s been a common sentiment I’ve run into, and while the plural of anecdote is not data, the number of people I’ve seen and heard in Red and Blue areas who think the country has gone nuts comports well with this survey.

    This country has gone through multiple periods in which instability led to a new political party eclipsing an old party (or a new party taking over from within and changing an old political party into something new). I suspect we’ll be seeing something new in the next few years, and I highly doubt it’s the Trump Party, given current trends.

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    Jack Stone

    Really disgusting to see this both-sidesism by...uhh...the American people

    All jokes aside, this confirms that when centrists (including yours truly) point out that both parties—yes, "both sides"—have gone nuts, the majority of the country agrees with us. They may not be equally nuts at all times, on all issues, in all ways, but anyone who can't recognize that both have serious problems with authoritarianism, denial of reality, refusal to compromise, Flight 93ism, etc., needs to step out of their bubble. "Both sidesism" is just observation of reality

    I think Biden was able to trounce Sanders and will trounce Trump on the strength of being the return-to-sanity candidate: the least extreme Democrat across both the dimensions of wokeness and economic populism. It's certainly why I voted for him. Let's hope that a genuine "silent majority" bucking the trend of increasing polarization can set us back on the right course

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    Xsearnold

    "Americans are rejecting both parties at this moment, which opens the door for the right operative to craft a meaningful coalition and actually win the hearts and minds of voters."

    This presumes that those who feel "their" party is moving in the wrong direction have a shared vision of what is the right direction. It's possible that each party is not moving far enough in the direction desired by those who are unhappy with it, meaning it would be impossible to stitch together a coalition from these unhappy respondents.

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  7. Curtis Jensen

    I think a lot of voters recognize that either party is more concerned with getting credit for politicking than providing solutions when they are needed. This phenomenon is best articulated by Tim Scott's speech on the senate floor after Democrats filibustered his police reform bill:

    "The actual problem is not what is being offered. It is who is offering it . . . You could have 70% of what you wanted . . . [Instead] you're getting 0."

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    rlritt

    Maybe if both parties would stop acting like stupid brats and started to find common ground and were willing to negotiate to arrive at beneficial solutions and actually worked TOGETHER to implement these plans people might start having a better opinion of them. This idiotic all or nothing BS is what's ruining the country and its all because small men and women want to hold onto their little bit of power, and the hell with everyone else.

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  9. Raincheck

    This reflects the attitudes of so many people I know. I have friends who are very dedicated to the GOP and the Democratic Party, but more out of hatred/fear of the other party than love for their own.

    But the majority of people I know, from both sides, feel alienated. They aren’t looking for extremism in either direction. They believe most problems are best solved by side by both sides working together - and having buy in to the solution. They are nostalgic for politicians who speak to the whole county, and not a corner of the Twitterverse.

    This Union is not a foregone conclusion, and when people respond to everything from a pandemic to the NBA playoffs by tapping their anger at the “other” it is not promising. Aside from here, comment sections are discouraging. If the only motivation for voting for one side is that you hate the other and believe they will lead the country to ruin, we are in trouble. It may excite 30% on either side and win an election, but after that election 70% of the country will be unhappy. It might be good politics, but it is terrible leadership.

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    1. VcL

      So well said. I'm a conservative on foreign and economic policy, but center to center-left on many social issues. I'm voting for Biden because I don't think our country can take four more years of hate and divisiveness, but it is solely a vote for common decency. I'm turned off by the far left wing of the party, and hope that a Biden administration will begin to bring healing to a divided nation, while only succeeding in implementing policies that have been sufficiently watered down to garner bipartisan support.

      I have felt 'homeless' for years, and long for a party willing to compromise in order to legislate. Ideally, no one should be 100% happy with government, but everyone should have a voice - resulting in real solutions that reflect the collective will of the governed. I agree with the writers...there is a huge segment of society not currently represented that is just waiting for the right coalition builder.

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      Xsearnold

      Gee, someone should write a book on that topic. ; )

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    JDW

    It seems a fact of nature almost that the Democrats will overreach if they get in power. Which to be honest is why I am unafraid to vote Trump out. In fact I am afraid not to vote Trump out. I believe the Republican party will come back but it has to rebuke some of its worst impulses to get there. It will happen or the party will die. Same for the Democrats.

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