(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A Democratic pollster told NBC News Democrats need a full “reboot” to regain their footing, with the latest survey showing the party at its lowest-ever popularity among voters.
Data guru Jeff Horwitt twisted the knife of bad news for Democrats, coming the same day as a separate CNN survey also found that Democrats are the most unpopular with voters they’ve been in the thirty years of that poll.
Horwitt, whose firm Hart Research Associates conducted the survey along with GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies said it’s not just a matter of repositioning or presentation, as some have argued.
“With these numbers, the Democratic Party is not in need of a rebrand,” he said. “It needs to be rebooted.”
The survey, published by NBC News on Sunday, showed only 27% of registered voters view Democrats favorably and a mere 7% view Democrats “very” positively.
But over half, 55%, said they view the Democratic party negatively.
The poll was similar to a CNN/SSRS poll that dropped Sunday and that found Democrats were only viewed favorably by 29 % of its respondents. NBC News reported on Horwitt’s survey:
The Democratic Party has reached an all-time low in popularity in the latest national NBC News poll, as it searches for a path forward after a painful loss to President Donald Trump — and as the party’s voters spoil for a fight between their leaders in Washington and Trump.
[…]
The slump is partially driven by fed-up Democrats, according to the polling data, after they watched their party lose to Trump in 2024. And now, in a reversal from Trump’s first term, self-identified Democratic voters say they want their party to hold the line on their positions even if it leads to gridlock, rather than focus on finding areas of compromise with the president.
Horwitt said Democrats need to start from scratch with its lowest positive rating since NBC News began tracking the metric in 1990.
Sunday’s Hart/NBC poll found the GOP was viewed favorably by 39 % of respondents. forty-nine % said they viewed the Republican Party negatively.
Hart Research Associates spoke to 1,000 registered voters from March 7 to March 11 and reported a margin of error at +/- 3.1 percentage points.
