Shock poll: Democratic Party super unpopular; voters hate Kamala, Newsom, AI, Iran |
Shock poll: Democratic Party super unpopular; voters hate Kamala, Newsom, AI, Iran
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Shock Poll: Democratic Party super unpopular; voters hate Kamala, Newsom, AI, Iran - Robby Soave | RISING
Shock Poll: Democratic Party super unpopular; voters hate Kamala, Newsom, AI, Iran - Robby Soave | RISING
The Democratic Party has a huge image problem. According to a new poll from NBC news, the party and its most likely 2028 presidential candidates are toxically unpopular with voters.
This poll caught my attention, and the attention of a lot of people on social media, because it suggested that AI is becoming unpopular; social media noticed that AI was 20 points underwater, making it even less popular than ICE, which was minus 18 on favorability.
Now, this was a survey of 1,000 registered voters over the telephone and via text message, and it has an error margin of 3 points, so do take all of this with a grain of salt. Even so, it’s striking to me that the Democratic Party as an institution was even more unpopular than ICE and AI! The only thing that polled worse as a concept was Iran, the nation we’re currently at war with — er, sorry, in a military action situation with. Not a war. Don’t call it a war, whatever you do.
And the likely Dem candidates fared little better. Kamala Harr is at minus 17 and Gavin Newsom is at minus 18. AOC is comparatively popular at minus 11. That’s compared with minus 11 for JD Vance and minus 7 for Marco Rubio.
Harris, by the way, is reportedly undecided on whether she’s running for president again, but she’s definitely keeping her options open.
A long profile of her in Politico notes that Harris is taking some steps toward a run but still won’t commit either way. Meanwhile, the desire for her is practically nonexistent with the Democratic base — no one is demanding that she be foisted on them again. And her most recent foray into politics was a last-minute endorsement of Jasmine Crockett in the Texas Senate primary; Crockett was decisively beaten by James Talarico, who is now the Dem nominee. Not a winning tactic for Kamala Harris.
Even so, Harris got a favorable shoutout from a potential 2028 rival, Newsom, who wrote on X: “This wouldn’t have happened under her watch.”
Presumably, he’s talking about the events in Iran. And it’s true that Harris indicated she would have opposed this sort of action, even though the Trump campaign — particularly Vance — implied that it would be Harris, not Trump, who would take the nation to war with Iran. So much for that.
But polls like this one from NBC show that no matter how many questionable policies the Trump administration pursues, no matter how many openings they create for Dems by, let’s say, hugely increasingly the price of gas, the Democratic Party remains toxically unpopular. Americans don’t love everything Trump does, but they’re really, really not sure they can trust Democrats to govern ever again.
Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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