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Trump is deeply unpopular — yet voters still loathe Democrats

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by Max Burns, opinion contributor - 04/08/26 9:00 AM ET

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by Max Burns, opinion contributor - 04/08/26 9:00 AM ET

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Winter temperatures may still be gripping much of the country, but President Trump’s record-low approval rating has Democrats feeling positively springlike.

A YouGov/Economist poll published this week found Trump’s net approval at a dismal minus-23. Respondents in a CNN poll gave him similarly failing grades on his handling of the economy, immigration and other core issues. Trump’s collapsing popularity has Democrats licking their chops at the prospect of winning back not only the House in this year’s midterm elections but the Senate as well.

But the fact that voters are seeing through Trump’s empty promises does not mean they suddenly support Democrats. In fact, CNN’s poll found Democrats trailing Republicans by 4 points in total party approval. At just 28 percent, voter approval of the Democratic Party is actually lower than it was at this time last year. So Democrats shouldn’t go popping their celebratory champagne bottles just yet.

There are some good signs in recent polls. The most motivated voters support Democrats by a nearly two-to-one ratio, which suggests that Trump’s disastrous presidency has sapped the enthusiasm of rank-and-file Republican voters. Voters also say they trust Democrats more than Republicans to protect their health care — a top concern for the Americans most likely to cast ballots in November.

Even with those advantages, though, most voters still think of Democrats as inept and weak-willed politicians who won’t — or can’t — stand up to Trump’s excesses. That isn’t new: An Associated Press-NORC poll published last year found that most Democratic voters described their party as “weak” and “ineffective,” descriptors that haven’t changed much over the last year.

Many Democratic voters also feel the party hasn’t been clear about what it would do with control of Congress, besides symbolic impeachment efforts against Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

The 22 million Americans who saw their health insurance premiums double after Republicans ended the Affordable Care Act subsidies and the millions more struggling with the skyrocketing cost of living aren’t in the mood for symbolic gestures of resistance. Many of those voters cast ballots for Trump and the Republicans in 2024, only to find themselves burned by his empty promises. They want a clear plan of action to get the economy working again. So far, neither party has offered anything close.

Democrats can start by embracing a little common-sense populism.

Millions of Americans have seen their chances of buying a home evaporate thanks to greedy Wall Street firms that are driving up housing prices nationwide by paying above market prices for single-family homes. Democrats should own the issue by proposing a federal law blocking the nation’s financial fat cats from sucking up the housing supply — and by imposing tougher taxes on the firms that hold massive portfolios of residential properties. That tax revenue should go back to regular Americans in the form of a credit that allows them to purchase their first home.

The party also needs to reconnect with its labor roots, as Republican policies are hollowing out America’s once vibrant manufacturing base. We have lost nearly 100,000 manufacturing jobs since Trump took office, including almost 30,000 auto manufacturing jobs, according to data from the Labor Department. A Democratic Congress should take immediate steps to pass a law undoing the reckless Trump tariffs that spurred this historic industrial contraction, as well as restrict the future implementation of tariffs without congressional approval.

Just as important is how Democrats engage with local communities. From Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the party’s most effective leaders are already centering affordability issues in language voters can easily understand. It’s time for the rest of the Democratic Party to catch up, which means blanketing the media not just with criticism but with a clear outline of how Democrats can and will do better. Voters already know they are suffering. What they want to hear from Democrats is a way out of that pain.

Paradoxically, that means centering Trump less in the national conversation. Trump should be treated like the ineffective and slightly pathetic lame-duck president he is. Democrats’ vision of leadership must look beyond their opposition to Trump and toward a positive vision of Democratic leadership in a post-Trump