CNN
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Following the 2024 election, most Democratic voters say the party needs to make big changes and feel “burned out” in politics, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. are. The party faces its lowest approval ratings in more than 30 years.
Donald Trump’s return to power is also reshaping the Republican Party, with a majority of party supporters now saying that supporting the next president is important to being a Republican.
These changes are unfolding in a broader context of political unhappiness, with even Republicans more likely to say they are disappointed and dissatisfied with politics than to express optimism, inspiration, or pride. Much more.
A majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 58%, say the Democratic Party needs major changes or complete reform after the 2022 midterm elections, when the party retains the Senate majority. That’s up from just 34% who said the same. Lost the House. During that time, the share of Republicans and Republican voters who feel the same way about the Republican Party has fallen from 38% to 28%.
Only 49% of Democratic-leaning adults say they expect their party’s members of Congress to be able to resist Republican policies more or less effectively, compared to 10 percent of Republican-leaning adults. The Ninthians are at least somewhat effective in passing new laws to enact their agenda to members of Congress from their party, which currently controls both houses of Congress.
But across party lines, the prevailing political mood is one of dissatisfaction. Most U.S. adults feel disappointed (70%) and dissatisfied (64%) with the country’s politics today, and nearly half feel burnt out. About 4 in 10 women say they are angry, a figure that rises to 52% among Democratic women. Less than 20% said they were optimistic, motivated, inspired and proud.
Only 23% of all registered voters say they are satisfied with the influence that people like them have in the political process, compared to 38% in last fall’s poll, a decline that has increased in both parties. reflects growing dissatisfaction among voters. Only about half (48%) of all adults say they are confident that elections reflect the will of the people, an increase from the low 40% range for the past three years. . Confidence reversed along partisan lines in the wake of Trump’s election victory, rising from 29% in July 2023 to 67% among Republican-leaning adults, but from 59% among Democratic-leaning adults over the same period. It dropped to 39%. .
Overall, only 33% of Americans have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, an all-time low in CNN polls dating back to 1992. Republicans’ favorability rating is even higher at 36%. Four years ago, right after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, Democrats’ approval rating was 49%, while Republicans’ approval rating was 32%.
Although the majority of partisans are still generally positive about their party, Republicans are more uniformly positive, which is the main reason why the negative numbers for Republicans have decreased slightly. 78% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents have a favorable view of the Republican Party, while 72% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents view the Democratic Party favorably. Support for each party among independents remains at just 19%.
Looking back on politics over the past few years, Republican-leaning adults say they now feel more part of the Republican Party than not part of it, 43% to 18%. But among Democratic-leaning adults, the proportion who feel pushed away outnumbers those who feel drawn towards it, 32% to 23%.
Most Americans on both sides of the aisle believe their political parties are united rather than divided, with 79% of adults who lean Republican and 64% of adults who lean Democratic. Respondents say their political parties are mostly unified.
But internal divisions are the biggest frustration for both Democrats and Republicans, who believe the party needs major change or complete reform.
Among the majority of Democratic-leaning adults who want major changes in the party, other key issues include a feeling that the party is out of touch or unresponsive, and a lack of new leadership. These include a feeling that the party is not being proactive enough on policy. Republicans need to either push back or strengthen their message to voters.
“They’re too nice,” wrote a Maryland man who responded to a poll. “Republicans will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, while Democrats cling to ‘norms.’ They need to be more aggressive in their approach, but they don’t have to lie like Republicans.”
A woman from Arizona commented, “Even though the Democratic Party has done a lot of good things for the country and its people, they lost the election.” “Democrats are terrible at messaging.”
The percentage of Republicans and Republican-leanings who want big changes in the Republican Party is modest, with 10% citing Trump and MAGA and just a few saying they see the party as too extreme or right-wing. 4%, down from 15%. 10% each in the second half of 2022.

Among those surveyed, some called on the party to “align with policies that are not directly related to President Trump” and to “develop an excellent successor” for the next president. Not all references were negative.
One poll respondent in Tennessee said, “Even with all that President Trump has been through and done for the country over the last nine years, many so-called Republicans don’t support President Trump.” I wrote.
When asked who they trust more in a disagreement between President Trump and Republican Congressional leaders, Republican adults supported Trump by a margin of 55% to 22%. (Among Americans as a whole, 53% say they don’t trust either, with the remainder being highly divided.)
And many who identify with the Republican Party consider loyalty to Trump central to their political identity. A majority, 53%, say supporting Trump is a very important part of what it means to them to be a Republican.
That’s up from 34% who said the same in late summer 2021, months after the end of President Trump’s first term. Also, those who currently place similar value in doctrines such as supporting a weaker federal government (46%), supporting Congressional Republicans (42%), and opposing Democratic policies (32%) The percentage is also higher. Only “holding conservative values and policy positions” (54%) carries similar weight.
Trump’s core supporters, those who say their support for him is an important part of their Republican identity, tend to be older than the rest of the party. They are also more likely to describe themselves as conservatives and less likely to have a college degree.
A CNN poll last fall found that most voters felt the government wasn’t doing enough to help people like them. The latest research suggests that the public has very different perceptions of who each party is trying to help and where it is falling short.
Thirty-five percent of Americans say the bigger problem is that Democrats aren’t doing enough to save enough people in the United States, while a similar 38% say Democrats are doing too much to save the wrong types of people. He says his bigger concern is what he’s trying to save: people who “don’t deserve it.” A further 26% said they were fine with both.
By contrast, Americans, 48% to 14%, say the bigger problem is that the Republican Party is not trying to help the wrong people broadly enough, rather than that they are trying to help too many undeserved people. 38% said neither should be supported. problem.
For most Democrats, a core value is that the government should do more to help people. Sixty-five percent of Democratic adults say their faith is a very important part of what the party means to them, but fewer than half say the same about holding elections. Do you support progressive positions, Democratic elected officials, or oppose Republican policies?
However, 36% say their party is not trying to help enough people, and an even smaller number (23%) say they have a problem with what kind of people they think their party is trying to help. . Younger Democrats and Democratic supporters under 45 say the problem is less about what kinds of people the Democratic Party is trying to help and more about the Democratic Party not doing enough to help people. is answering. For those over 45, the two concerns are more closely divided, with 33% saying not helping enough people is a bigger problem and 27% saying they are helping people who don’t deserve it. are.
A majority of Republican adults (58%) say Democrats are trying to help too many people who don’t deserve it, and 62% say their party doesn’t have a problem with either.
The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS between January 9 and 12 among a national random sample of 1,205 adults drawn from a probability-based panel. The survey was conducted online or over the phone with a live interviewer. Results across all samples have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
CNN’s Jennifer Asiesta and Edward Wu contributed to this report.