Poll: Public Opinion of Democratic Party at All-Time Low

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: Polling ,; Congress

CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.

Americans are dissatisfied with both major political parties, but the public's approval of the Democratic Party is at its lowest level ever, a new CBS News poll shows.

Favorable views of the Democratic Party dropped 20 points in the past year to 37 percent, according to the poll, conducted May 20 - 24. Last month, the party's favorability rating stood at 42 percent.

Fifty-four percent of Americans have a negative view of the Democrats, the poll shows.

Republicans have a similarly low favorability rating at 33 percent. That figure, however, is up from 28 percent - the historic low the party received last June. Fifty-five percent of Americans have a negative view of the Republican Party.

Seventy-seven percent of Americans now disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job - the highest ever in a CBS News poll.

More from the poll:

Poll Finds Americans Pessimistic, Dissatisfied with Washington
Poll: 70% Say BP Handling Oil Spill Badly
Poll: Most Americans Still Unfamiliar with Elena Kagan
Poll: Most Still Support Arizona Immigration Law
Poll: Support for Health Care Reforms Increases
Read the Complete Poll

This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1054 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone May 20-24, 2010. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

Stephanie Condon
Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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by jleone1976 August 9, 2010 1:38 PM EDT: All of you Republicans are fools. You say the countries problems is a result of the Democrats, but not one piece of evidence to support your opinions. I notice one comment about the Unions and the money they contribute to the Democratic Party. What about the Billions of Dollars from your ' all holy' corporations. Yea... Lets let corporations do what ever they want... if we did let them have anarchy like you suggest, do you really think BP would care about cleaning up they oil spill? Yea... lets take away unemployment benefits...God forbid anybody help anybody else, not to mention the fact that UI was vital to preventing the nation's economy from completely collapsing. Yea.....only certain people, that can afford it, should have health insurance, yea....insurance companies really care about its customers...miss a payment, or need an expensive procedure, and you will see how much they ?care?about you. PEOPLE..... THE ONLY WAY A SOCIETY CAN FUNCTION, AND STAY HEALTHY, IS BY HELPING ONE ANOTHER! NOBODY.....AND I MEAN NOBODY.... CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT THE HELP OF OTHERS!! I also believe that people get what they serve. If I ever see one of you republicans stranded I WILL NEVER HELP YOU. I will let you suffer since you all are so quick to let others suffer!!; Reply to this comment


by toldyouso21 May 27, 2010 12:55 PM EDT: INTERESTING. The opinion of us of the Dems is at an all time low but it still is better than the opinion for the Republicans? So what is the REpublicans' all time low? I shudder to think of it.; Reply to this comment


by rannan3 May 27, 2010 5:46 AM EDT: Anyone who is not in a Union should be offended and outraged by this WH and Congress using our tax dollars openly to pay back their biggest campaign contributors- the Unions !
And they're about to bail out Union pensions, which are woefully underfunded.
JUST MORE SHARING THE WEALTH, HUH ?
This is the most blatantly corrupt WH I've seen in my 60 plus years.; Reply to this comment


by rannan3 May 27, 2010 5:41 AM EDT: I think the Democrats in power have blatantly shown what their priorities are -- doing anything and everything to stay in power AND control every aspect of American life.
They uphold Thieves of Valor -- like Blumenthal, but most Dems. don't really understand/care about the Military anyway. Too many Dems. just don't get the significence of lying about being ' in Vietnam '. That is something no Vet. would ever MISSPEAK of ! Never !
The Congressional Dems. have spent us into dangerous territory, and are still doing it.
But let there be one little piece of responsibility to shoulder, and they trot out 'George Bush did this & this & this !" OR " it's the obstructionist Republicans fault ".
EVERYTHING, good or bad, happening falls squarely on the Democrats. Period. They control everything. IF you like how things are going, fine. IF you don't, VOTE them out ! It's that simple.; Reply to this comment


by valwayne May 26, 2010 1:59 PM EDT: 9.9% UNEMPLOYMENT, Massive corrupt spending, massive corrupt vote buying, the handling of terrorists by the Obama administration is a complete joke, a foreign policy of bows, apologies, and appeasement, that is failing everywhere in the world, especially Iran and N. Korea. The Democrats passed the healthcare bill that will cost trillions upon trillions and have the Government controlling healthcare. After watching how the federal Government is handling the oil spill in the Gulf can you imagine what we are in for when these same people are managing our health? The EPA seems to want to do a 2 year environment impact study before deciding if the state of LA can try and keep the oil from coming ashore. The Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration don't have the common sense that God gave to a doornail!!!!; Reply to this comment


by danceswithtrees May 26, 2010 10:22 AM EDT: The voters will soundly reject the Dems in 2010. They said they would be fiscally prudent and have actually been anything but. They will lose the house and maybe the senate this fall.; Reply to this comment


by tsigili May 26, 2010 10:19 AM EDT: The party of dictatorship, of ignoring the wishes of the people, and of power-mongering.

The political party to hate and despise, and to throw out of power, in November.; Reply to this comment


by actornaught May 26, 2010 9:34 AM EDT: Article's title would be more informative as "Democrat's approval slips almost as low as Republican approval".

But then cbs wouldn't suck in as many foxrushies, would they.

I like the part where BHO, low rating and all, is still looking better than all of them.; Reply to this comment


by RobAla May 26, 2010 7:00 AM EDT: Where is the CBS article covering the fact that Democrat Rep. Joe Sestak says that the Obama administration offered him a job to pull out of the primary race against Spector? He won the primary, but still vows that this happened. If true, it could mean felony charges against someone in the Whitehouse core group, or even the President. Is this not news?; Reply to this comment


by gunndee3 May 26, 2010 1:16 AM EDT: Polls are like leaves blowing in the wind. The only poll that really matters though will be the one listing the vote totals in the November elections.; Reply to this comment