<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Walking Through the Data]]></title><description><![CDATA[A Substack from Loft Beck Strategies. Mostly random musings on public opinion and political strategy, though I reserve the right to offer random musings on walking, cats, and other things.]]></description><link>https://bryannbennett.substack.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6UsL!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88f0eb78-a757-48b5-8465-81990008c7c2_800x800.png</url><title>Walking Through the Data</title><link>https://bryannbennett.substack.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:05:01 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://bryannbennett.substack.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[info@loftbeckstrategies.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[info@loftbeckstrategies.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[info@loftbeckstrategies.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[info@loftbeckstrategies.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[The Coalition of Voters Supporting Democrats in the Midterms is Upsettingly Fragile]]></title><description><![CDATA[While recent surveys have found Democrats with a double-digit advantage on the generic ballot, a majority of voters supporting Democrats in 2026 also disapprove of their job performance.]]></description><link>https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/the-coalition-of-voters-supporting</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/the-coalition-of-voters-supporting</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2026 21:01:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnHU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last week, two surveys from <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3959">Quinnipiac University</a> and <em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/05/21/polls/times-siena-national-poll-crosstabs.html">The New York Times</a></em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/05/21/polls/times-siena-national-poll-crosstabs.html">/Siena University</a> both found Democrats leading on their versions of the generic congressional ballot question by 11 points (50 percent Democrats &#8211; 39 percent Republicans in each).<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-1" href="#footnote-1" target="_self">1</a> In general, this should be viewed as great news for Democrats for several reasons: </p><ul><li><p><a href="https://blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/the-democratic-lead-on-house-generic">Fifty Plus One notes</a> that the generic ballot advantage for Democrats is now as large as 2018, when Democrats won the national vote by more than 8 points and netted 41 seats to take back the House majority. </p></li><li><p>Democrats will likely <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/what-the-gerrymandering-wars-mean-for-the-midterms-and-2028">need to win by several points nationally</a> in order to overcome structural disadvantages new in these midterm elections due to mid-decade redistricting and the <em>Callais</em> decision.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://poll.qu.edu/Poll-Release-Legacy?releaseid=2544">In the summer of 2018</a>, Quinnipiac found Democrats held a narrower 6-point advantage over Republicans, which may suggest Democrats are actually in a stronger position this close to the midterms than they were in the last wave midterm election they triumphed in.</p></li></ul><p>All signs point to this being a rejection of President Trump&#8217;s administration and agenda. Trump is deeply underwater in both surveys, including a net -24 rating in Quinnipiac&#8217;s survey (34 percent approve &#8211; 58 percent disapprove) and a net -22 rating in <em>The New York Times</em>/Siena poll (37 percent approve &#8211; 59 percent disapprove). If past is prologue, that dynamic is unlikely to change between now and November and consequently, Democrats are favored to win the midterm elections.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/the-coalition-of-voters-supporting?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/the-coalition-of-voters-supporting?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p>I would love to sit back and take solace in that, but I&#8217;m personally less interested in one single election and more interested in how the Democratic Party can build a more sustainable coalition once again, which draws me more to the cautionary signs for Democrats over a longer time horizon. In both surveys, there were pretty damning data points for the Democratic Party&#8217;s brand (some of which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/upshot/poll-democrats-times-siena.html">were highlighted explicitly in reporting about their poll by </a><em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/upshot/poll-democrats-times-siena.html">The New York Times</a>)</em>, but to hone in the consistency of these findings for context for the rest of this post: </p><ul><li><p><em>NYT</em>/Siena Just 26 percent of all voters are satisfied with the Democratic Party compared to 70 percent who report being dissatisfied. Among independents, the Party is underwater by 53 points, and just 55 percent of self-reported Democratic voters are satisfied with their own party.</p></li><li><p>Similarly, only 20 percent of all voters approve of the job performance of Democrats in Congress, while 72 percent disapprove. Independents give Democrats in Congress a net -54 rating (18 percent approve &#8211; 72 percent disapprove) and their job performance is underwater among self-reported Democrats by a net 9 points (41 percent approve &#8211; 50 percent disapprove).</p></li></ul><p>I asked the kind folks at the <a href="http://poll.qu.edu">Quinnipiac University Polling Institute</a><a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-2" href="#footnote-2" target="_self">2</a> if they would share some additional crosstabs from their most recent survey. Specifically, I was interested in voters who say they disapprove of the job that Democrats in Congress are doing, but who also say they want to see the Democratic Party win control of the House of Representatives in November. There are a number of interesting findings among this group of voters, but one high-level takeaway that needs to be put before all others: <strong>30 percent </strong><em><strong>of all voters</strong> </em><strong>in this survey disapprove of the job Democrats in Congress are doing, but want to see them win control of the House in November. Another way of thinking about that: </strong><em><strong>three in five voters in the current Democratic midterm coalition disapprove of the job that congressional Democrats are doing.</strong></em> </p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/the-coalition-of-voters-supporting?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/the-coalition-of-voters-supporting?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p>These voters tend to be:</p><ul><li><p>More racially diverse (only 59 percent are white compared to 67 percent of registered voters overall); </p></li><li><p>Younger (55 percent are under the age of 50 compared to 42 percent of registered voters overall); </p></li><li><p>Have higher levels of college education (53 percent have a four-year degree compared to just 42 percent of registered voters overall), and; </p></li><li><p>While a plurality of these voters are Democrats (49 percent) who are willing to express dissatisfaction with their own party, 41 percent of them are independent voters. </p></li></ul><p>This suggests to me two things that are simultaneously true, yet in tension with one another for Democratic power-building in the long term: </p><ul><li><p>What is holding this coalition together at the moment, and what may enable Democrats to win the midterms, is a deeply anti-Trump sentiment: 97 percent of these voters disapprove of Trump&#8217;s job handling (92 percent <em>strongly</em> disapprove), 91 percent disapprove of J.D. Vance&#8217;s job handling as Vice President, and 87 percent of these voters want Democrats in Congress to do more to stand up to Trump compared to only 9 percent who want them to work with them more. That last finding is strikingly similar to what I found in <a href="http://loftbeckstrategies.com/research/aspirations-for-and-perceptions-of-the-democratic-party">a recent Loft Beck Strategies survey</a> on perceptions of and aspirations for the Democratic Party, where 84 percent of all Democratic voters want the party to fight Trump and Republicans compared to just 8 percent who want them to compromise more with them.</p></li><li><p>Beyond the short-term goals of the next six months for Democrats, this coalition is deeply fragile beyond November 2026 if you have approximately 60 percent of voters currently disapproving of how congressional Democrats are performing. Presumably, there will not be much if any switch in vote preference between now and November among this bloc of voters from wanting Democrats to win control toward wanting Republicans to win control, but what if some are disaffected that  sit 2026 out in the end? Even if Democrats win control in 2026 (and will not be able to solely blame Trump or a trifecta Republican government anymore), will these voters turn out or support Democrats in 2028? </p></li></ul><p><strong>In the short-term, Democrats are heavily incentivized to communicate anti-Trump messaging all the time, but in the medium-to-long term, they run the risk of losing these voters who could become less animated by anti-Trump sentiment alone as the end of his presidency approaches.</strong></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Walking Through the Data is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div><hr></div><p>There are two other notable points to note about this group of voters supporting Democrats in 2026 but disapproving of Democrats in Congress. <strong>First, they are more likely to prioritize &#8220;preserving democracy&#8221; as an urgent issue facing the country today than the overall electorate &#8212; even more so than the economy.</strong> When all voters are asked about this in a single-response forced choice question, the economy is the top issue with 31 percent of voters selecting it, followed by &#8220;preserving democracy&#8221; at 26 percent (all other issues are in single digits, including immigration, crime, and health care). Among the bloc of voters supporting Democrats in 2026 but disapproving of congressional Democrats, &#8220;preserving democracy&#8221; is top of mind for them with 38 percent, followed by the economy at 31 percent. While the term &#8220;preserving democracy&#8221; may be somewhat ambiguous, it is meaningful that democracy is a top priority for these voters. And <a href="https://www.loftbeckstrategies.com/research/aspirations-for-and-perceptions-of-the-democratic-party">my recent LBS survey from earlier this month</a> found that this likely points toward reforming institutions to work better rather than going back to a pre-Trump state: among all voters, a majority thinks the Democratic Party &#8220;should focus on pushing forward big reforms after Trump&#8221; (51 percent) compared to only 18 percent who think it should &#8220;focus on going back to the way things were before Trump.&#8221;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnHU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnHU!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnHU!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnHU!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnHU!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnHU!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png" width="1240" height="1126" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/fb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1126,&quot;width&quot;:1240,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:194143,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/i/199641162?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnHU!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnHU!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnHU!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnHU!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb469e62-214f-4115-beb3-e82e7c972a26_1240x1126.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Second, these voters are not just more anxious about the country&#8217;s economic outlook, but are reporting higher levels of negative economic impacts in their personal lives. </strong>Only 4 percent of these voters believe the economy is excellent or good compared to 30 percent of the electorate overall, while 85 percent rate it negatively (compared to 69 percent overall). Though attitudes about the economy are broadly grim and especially negative with these specific voters, they are also reporting cutting back on spending at greater rates than registered voters overall, including: </p><ul><li><p>69 percent say they have cut back on dining out (compared to 54 percent of all registered voters); </p></li><li><p>67 percent say they have cut back on entertainment or leisure activities like going out to movies, shows, or sporting events (compared to 49 percent of all registered voters);</p></li><li><p>65 percent say they have cut back on vacation plans (compared to 48 percent of all registered voters); and,</p></li><li><p>54 percent say they have cut back on grocery shopping (compared to 43 percent of all registered voters). </p></li></ul><p>Moreover, while there is not as much of a difference when it comes to difficulty affording gas &#8212; 51 percent of those supporting Democrats in 2026 but disapproving of congressional Democrats say it is difficult compared to 45 percent of all registered voters &#8212; there is a huge difference in blaming Donald Trump for the recent rise in gas prices. While 72 percent of all registered voters blame Trump for higher gas costs (including 55 percent who say they blame him &#8220;a lot&#8221;), 98 percent of this voting bloc blames Trump (including 87 percent who blame him &#8220;a lot&#8221;). </p><div><hr></div><p>The Democratic Party is both imminently set up for short-term success, but in peril beyond that, and I think it would be a mistake to continue glossing over its own brand perception problems by focusing solely on being anti-Trump (which is not to say they should not oppose Trump&#8217;s policies, but there is growing evidence they should focus more on who how they are perceived and what they should be doing). <strong>Improving the party brand is not a simple fix and will take time, but it is important that Democratic leaders are paying attention to these voters who may currently be in the fold but who are not satisfied with them; that means bringing more fight when dealing with Trump and Republicans now, but also offering a more proactive vision for what big reforms they would pursue beyond Trump as well, particularly when it comes to affordability and betting the institutions intended to justly serve us all.</strong></p><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/the-coalition-of-voters-supporting?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Walking Through the Data! This post is public so feel free to share it.</p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/the-coalition-of-voters-supporting?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/the-coalition-of-voters-supporting?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-1" href="#footnote-anchor-1" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">1</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>In the Quinnipiac survey, the question wording is: &#8220;If the election were today, would you want to see the Republican Party or the Democratic Party win control of the United States House of Representatives?&#8221; In the <em>NYT</em>/Siena survey, the question wording is: &#8220;If the 2026 general election for Congress were held today, which party&#8217;s candidate would you be more likely to vote for in your district?&#8221;</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-2" href="#footnote-anchor-2" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">2</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>A special thanks to Elizabeth Collins and the rest of the team from the Quinnipiac Poll for sharing this additional data at my request.</p></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Meet the Democrats Frustrated With Their Party and Its Leadership, But Who Align With Other Democrats on What the Party's Future Should Be]]></title><description><![CDATA[A small&#8212;but meaningful&#8212;group of Democrats is dissatisfied with Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, and has deeply negative views about the current state of the Party. They should not be overlooked.]]></description><link>https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/meet-the-democrats-frustrated-with</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/meet-the-democrats-frustrated-with</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 14 May 2026 16:00:49 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_4cb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last month, my consulting practice <a href="http://www.loftbeckstrategies.com">Loft Beck Strategies</a> released <a href="http://beckstrategies.com/surveys/aspirations-for-and-perceptions-of-the-democratic-party">a new survey</a> conducted on behalf of <a href="https://www.evergreenlegalstrategies.com/">Evergreen Legal Strategies</a> and the <a href="https://www.srvproject.org/">Salt River Valley Project</a> assessing current perceptions of the Democratic Party and aspirations for it in the future.<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-1" href="#footnote-1" target="_self">1</a> While the principal findings focused on perceptions of prominent national Democratic leaders on dimensions of favorability, strength, and ideology, as well as how voters see the Democratic Party today versus what they would like to see from it moving forward, further analysis of the results identified an small but notable audience of Democratic voters who are both highly engaged with politics, yet deeply disaffected by its current congressional leadership and the Democratic Party&#8217;s general posture. <strong>The following is a deep dive into who they are, and what they want from the Democratic Party.</strong></p><p><em>You can read more about the initial findings from the survey <a href="https://nobodyslistening.org/p/first-look-new-polling-on-dems">at the Nobody's Listening newsletter</a>, <a href="https://uppercut.news/p/toughness-not-ideology-is-what-matters">the Upper Cut newsletter</a>, and <a href="https://substack.com/home/post/p-195664880">in my last post</a>.</em></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Walking Through the Data is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div><hr></div><p>This survey asked favorability of many former and current Democratic elected officials, including the Democratic leaders in Congress: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Even as Democrats hold a <a href="https://fiftyplusone.news/polls/generic-ballot/generic-ballot">5-point</a> or <a href="https://www.natesilver.net/p/generic-ballot-average-2026-nate-silver-bulletin-congress-polls">6-point</a> lead in the average of generic congressional ballot surveys (as of today), both Democratic leaders are underwater on favorability among all voters: Jeffries has a net -13 favorability rating (34 percent favorable &#8211; 48 percent unfavorable)<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-2" href="#footnote-2" target="_self">2</a> and Schumer is net negative by 28 points (30 percent favorable &#8211; 58 percent unfavorable), the worst of any official tested in this survey.<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-3" href="#footnote-3" target="_self">3</a></p><p>Both leaders have net favorable ratings among Democratic voters (Jeffries net +44; Schumer net +21). <strong>Yet, one in three Democratic voters are unfavorable toward at least one of the current Democratic congressional leaders (34 percent), and 16 percent are unfavorable toward both of them.</strong> </p><p><strong>This post focuses specifically on those unfavorable toward both.</strong><a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-4" href="#footnote-4" target="_self">4</a> </p><p>While 16 percent of Democrats may seem like a small number in the grand scheme of things, it is worth considering the profile of those unfavorable toward both Schumer and Jeffries compared to all other Democratic voters: </p><ul><li><p>49 percent of those unfavorable toward both Democratic leaders consider politics to be very important to their personal identity; only 36 percent of all other Democrats say the same. </p></li><li><p>80 percent of those unfavorable toward both Democratic leaders report news about government and public affairs on a daily basis; only 60 percent of all other Democrats report doing the same. </p></li><li><p>80 percent of those unfavorable toward both Democratic leaders describe themselves as liberal; only 63 percent of all other Democrats identify as liberal. When looking at those describing themselves as &#8220;very liberal,&#8221; 59 percent of those unfavorable toward both Democratic leaders say they are &#8220;very liberal&#8221; compared to just 25 percent of all other Democrats. </p></li><li><p>71 percent of those unfavorable toward both Democratic leaders have engaged in some form of political participation outside of voting (including posting about politics on social media, calling or writing an elected official, attending a rally or protest, or volunteering and/or donating to a candidate, political party, or other political organization). Just 54 percent of all other Democrats have engaged in at least one of these activities.</p></li></ul><p>Their information consumption habits also diverge significantly from most other Democrats beyond news websites or apps (48 percent among those unfavorable to both Democratic leaders; 40 percent among all other Democrats). Those unfavorable to both Democratic leaders are most likely to get their news otherwise from YouTube (48 percent), podcasts (39 percent), and Reddit (36 percent); all other Democratic voters are most likely to get their news otherwise from local TV news (40 percent), CNN (34 percent), and Facebook (32 percent). </p><p><strong>Put another way: the voters unfavorable to current Democratic congressional leaders are a core component of the Democratic coalition who are highly engaged, politically active, deeply progressive, and consuming information from more decentralized and fractured sources.</strong> With the midterm elections and 2028 presidential primary season nearing, it would be a mistake to overlook these voters, and it seems important to shed some light on what these voters want to see from the Democratic Party since a battle for its future is on the imminent horizon. </p><div><hr></div><p><strong>The divergence between Democrats unfavorable toward Democratic congressional leaders and all other Democrats is stark in their current assessments of the Democratic Party.</strong> This survey asked respondents to evaluate the Democratic Party on a number of attributes. With the exception of &#8220;wants what is best for the country,&#8221; where majorities of those unfavorable to both Democratic leaders (56 percent) and all other Democrats (88 percent) say this describes the Democratic Party well, these groups disagree with each other on every other attribute tested. The starkest differences include: </p><ul><li><p>Has a clear vision: </p><ul><li><p>Unfavorable to both Democratic leaders: <strong>net -70</strong> (13 percent describes well &#8211; 84 percent does not describe well)</p></li><li><p>All other Democrats: <strong>net +36</strong> (66 percent describes well &#8211; 30 percent does not describe well)</p></li></ul></li><li><p>Gets things done: </p><ul><li><p>Unfavorable to both Democratic leaders: <strong>net -73</strong> (14 percent describes well &#8211; 87 percent does not describe well)</p></li><li><p>All other Democrats: <strong>net +27</strong> (62 percent describes well &#8211; 34 percent does not describe well)</p></li></ul></li><li><p>Fights for people like me:  </p><ul><li><p>Unfavorable to both Democratic leaders: <strong>net -26</strong> (36 percent describes well &#8211; 62 percent does not describe well)</p></li><li><p>All other Democrats: <strong>net +67</strong> (82 percent describes well &#8211; 15 percent does not describe well)</p></li></ul></li></ul><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_4cb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_4cb!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_4cb!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_4cb!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_4cb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_4cb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png" width="1184" height="760" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:760,&quot;width&quot;:1184,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:153309,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/i/197559649?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_4cb!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_4cb!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_4cb!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_4cb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2901f72-d54b-4aa7-acec-b173ccb045da_1184x760.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>The divide between these two groups of Democrats extends over into how they evaluate the Democratic Party&#8217;s character, behavior, and demeanor. Those unfavorable to both Democratic leaders describe the current state of the Democratic Party as focused more on going back to the way things were before Trump (73 percent) rather than pushing forward big reforms (15 percent), giving in to Trump and Republicans (68 percent) rather than fighting against them (30 percent), adapting to what voters want to hear (67 percent) rather than saying what they really believe (18 percent), and having mostly smaller ideas (65 percent) than having bigger ideas (24 percent). The results are almost inverted among all other Democrats across all of these metrics: though a plurality agree that the Democratic Party is focused more on going back to the way things were before Trump (44 percent), more think that the Party is fighting against Trump and Republicans (67 percent) rather than giving in to them (24 percent), saying what they believe (50 percent) rather than adapting to what voters want to hear (37 percent), and has bigger ideas (58 percent) than smaller ideas (21 percent). </p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Despite these meaningful differences, both groups of Democrats are unified in what they want for the future of the Democratic Party.</strong> Even though those unfavorable to Democratic congressional leaders and all other Democrats are deeply divided on the current disposition of the Democratic Party, there is little daylight between them in what they say they want from the Party in the future, which should be a huge sigh of relief for Democrats with the 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 presidential primary coming in the near future. </p><ul><li><p><em>They nearly universally want the Democratic Party to fight against Trump and Republicans, not give in to them.</em> Among those unfavorable to both Democratic leaders, 93 percent want the Party to fight against Trump and Republicans compared to 86 percent of all other Democrats who say the same. </p></li><li><p><em>They want the Democratic Party to focus on pushing big reforms after Trump over going back to the way things were before Trump.</em> 83 percent of those unfavorable toward Schumer and Jeffries agree with this, as do 60 percent of all other Democrats. </p></li><li><p><em>They want those in the Democratic Party to say what they really believe, not adapt to what voters want to hear.</em> 68 percent of those unfavorable toward Democratic congressional leaders agree, as do 70 percent of all other Democrats. </p></li><li><p><em>Majorities want the Democratic Party to focus more on proposing their own agenda, not just opposing Trump and Republicans&#8217; agenda.</em> 58 percent of those unfavorable toward Democratic congressional leaders agree more with this as do 52 percent of all other Democrats. </p></li></ul><p>While <a href="https://www.loftbeckstrategies.com/research/aspirations-for-and-perceptions-of-the-democratic-party">the initial release of these results</a> found there to be divisions among the overall electorate about the direction of the Democratic Party ideologically&#8212;with Democrats generally wanting the Party to move more left while persuadable voters and those unfavorable toward both political parties wanting them to be more centrist or moderate&#8212;there is more unity among these two groups of Democrats who are otherwise deeply divided about the current state of the Party.<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-5" href="#footnote-5" target="_self">5</a> 80 percent of those unfavorable to both Democratic leaders want the Democratic Party to be more left (only 15 percent say more centrist or moderate), while a 54 percent majority of all other Democrats say the same (only 28 percent say they should be more centrist or moderate). </p><p><strong>Finally, despite all of the differences between these two groups of Democrats, both prioritize politicians who are seen as fighting hard to get things done over issue agreement or authenticity.</strong> In a head-to-head choice, 60 percent of those unfavorable to both Democratic leaders and 69 percent of all other Democrats say it matters more to them to have someone who they see as fighting hard to get things done over someone they agree with on most issues (40 percent and 31 percent, respectively). In a different head-to-head choice, someone fighting hard to get things done is prioritized over someone who genuinely believes what they say by 36 points among those unfavorable to Schumer and Jeffries and 34 points among all other Democrats. </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1XJS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171765e1-7347-4744-b1f3-976a2e4e8f72_1240x440.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1XJS!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171765e1-7347-4744-b1f3-976a2e4e8f72_1240x440.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1XJS!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171765e1-7347-4744-b1f3-976a2e4e8f72_1240x440.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1XJS!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171765e1-7347-4744-b1f3-976a2e4e8f72_1240x440.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1XJS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171765e1-7347-4744-b1f3-976a2e4e8f72_1240x440.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1XJS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171765e1-7347-4744-b1f3-976a2e4e8f72_1240x440.png" width="1240" height="440" 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stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/meet-the-democrats-frustrated-with?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Walking Through the Data! This post is public so feel free to share it.</p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/meet-the-democrats-frustrated-with?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/meet-the-democrats-frustrated-with?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-1" href="#footnote-anchor-1" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">1</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>You can read the full memo <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67b3e1485d0f82703f8df7cc/t/69ef1f6a053aed54d3ad7e8f/1777278826122/Aspirations+for+and+Perceptions+of+the+Democratic+Party+Survey+Final+Memo+04.27.2026.pdf">here</a>, and here are the <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67b3e1485d0f82703f8df7cc/t/69ef19b2467bb0538e65dc0f/1777277362721/Aspirations+for+and+Perceptions+of+the+Democratic+Party+Survey+Toplines+04.27.2026.pdf">toplines</a> and <a href="https://www.loftbeckstrategies.com/s/Aspirations-for-and-Perceptions-of-the-Democratic-Party-Survey-Full-Crosstabs-04272026.xlsx">crosstabs</a>.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-2" href="#footnote-anchor-2" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">2</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>Any discrepancies by a point here or there (e.g., net -13 but there seeming to be a 14-point difference between 34 percent and 48 percent) are due to rounding. </p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-3" href="#footnote-anchor-3" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">3</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>This survey tested 11 Democratic elected officials on their favorability ratings: Senator Mark Kelly, Senator Bernie Sanders, Governor Josh Shapiro, Governor J.B. Pritzker, Governor Wes Moore, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Governor Gavin Newsom, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, former President Joe Biden, and Senator Chuck Schumer. </p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-4" href="#footnote-anchor-4" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">4</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>The number of interviews collected among this group is n = 180 unweighted (n = 175 weighted), and has a margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level of +/- 8.7 percentage points. </p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-5" href="#footnote-anchor-5" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">5</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>It is worth noting that those unfavorable to both Schumer and Jeffries overwhelmingly view the party as being more moderate or centrist (77 percent) than left (19 percent), while a narrow plurality of all other Democrats see the Party as more left (45 percent) than centrist or moderate (36 percent). </p></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[New Survey: Aspirations for and Perceptions of the Democratic Party]]></title><description><![CDATA[While most of the conversation about the Democratic Party's future focuses on ideology, there are many dimensions the Party can focus on where voters are unified that can help build its brand.]]></description><link>https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/new-survey-aspirations-for-and-perceptions</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/new-survey-aspirations-for-and-perceptions</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 19:31:04 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9R7V!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What follows is a detailed memo from a new online national survey conducted by <strong><a href="https://www.loftbeckstrategies.com/">Loft Beck Strategies</a></strong> from April 2-7, 2026 among n = 1,500 registered voters (plus an additional oversample of 402 self-identified Democrats) exploring how voters currently evaluate the Democratic Party and its leaders, how voters perceive them across a number of ideological dimensions and character traits, and how voters would like to see the Party and its leaders change or behave in the future.<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-1" href="#footnote-1" target="_self">1</a> </p><p>You can also <strong><a href="https://q8w2.engage.squarespace-mail.com/r?m=69efac32a177771f5e9051b2&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.squarespace.com%2Fstatic%2F67b3e1485d0f82703f8df7cc%2Ft%2F69ef19b2467bb0538e65dc0f%2F1777277362721%2FAspirations%2Bfor%2Band%2BPerceptions%2Bof%2Bthe%2BDemocratic%2BParty%2BSurvey%2BToplines%2B04.27.2026.pdf&amp;w=67b3e1485d0f82703f8df7cc&amp;c=b_69efa7189bb51640fef3ac93&amp;e=2026-04-28T18%3A34%3A32.853642994Z&amp;l=en-US&amp;s=RmSMUbn_5ccHVeZaLhdCSar9bkU%3D">view the toplines</a></strong> and download crosstabs for this survey by clicking <strong><a href="https://q8w2.engage.squarespace-mail.com/r?m=69efac32a177771f5e9051b2&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.loftbeckstrategies.com%2Fs%2FAspirations-for-and-Perceptions-of-the-Democratic-Party-Survey-Full-Crosstabs-04272026.xlsx%3Fss_source%3Dsscampaigns%26ss_campaign_id%3D69efa7189bb51640fef3ac93%26ss_email_id%3D69efac32a177771f5e9051b2%26ss_campaign_name%3D%255BTest%2BEmail%255D%2BNew%2BSurvey%253A%2BAspirations%2Bfor%2Band%2BPerceptions%2Bof%2Bthe%2BDemocratic%2BParty%26ss_campaign_sent_date%3D2026-04-27T18%253A34%253A26Z&amp;w=67b3e1485d0f82703f8df7cc&amp;c=b_69efa7189bb51640fef3ac93&amp;e=2026-04-28T18%3A34%3A32.853642994Z&amp;l=en-US&amp;s=SqqQ7OPyEFwtHzRZ7IQCCWxHR9U%3D">here</a></strong>.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Overview</h2><p>This memo explores findings from this survey among the overall electorate, but also focuses on three distinct groups of voters: (1) voters identifying as Democrats, including independents who lean toward the Democratic Party; (2) an audience of &#8220;persuadable&#8221; voters, defined as being independent or Republican in their partisan identification but who disapprove of President Trump&#8217;s job performance; and, (3) &#8220;double haters,&#8221; defined as those with an unfavorable view of both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party today.</p><p><strong>A major overall theme emerging from this survey is that voters&#8212;all voters, Democrats, persuadable voters, and double haters&#8212;are looking for the Democratic Party to grow a backbone.</strong><a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-2" href="#footnote-2" target="_self">2</a></p><p>Three key findings in this survey reflect that sentiment:</p><ul><li><p>Americans at large&#8212;including Democrats, persuadables, and double haters&#8212;all want the Democratic Party to fight harder, and hold similar views on its leadership characteristics moving forward. However, those voter groups are divided as to which direction the Democratic Party should move ideologically: Democrats want the party to move left and all other groups want the party to move to the center.</p></li><li><p>The leaders in the Democratic Party viewed the most favorably are also the ones who voters perceive as being the strongest leaders.</p></li><li><p>And, when Democrats and independents are evaluating candidates for office, <em>strength</em> is more important to them than either <em>authenticity</em> or <em>ideological alignment</em>.</p></li></ul><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Walking Through the Data is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><h2><strong>Current Perceptions of the Democratic Party</strong></h2><p>Even as President Trump&#8217;s overall job handling is deeply net negative (net -13; 43 percent approve &#8211; 56 percent disapprove, including 48 percent who &#8220;strongly disapprove&#8221;), the Democratic Party&#8217;s brand is also deeply underwater with the electorate overall and it faces a brand equity problem among its own members. Among all voters surveyed, favorability of the Democratic Party is underwater by 14 points (42 percent favorable &#8211; 56 percent unfavorable), and though 80 percent of Democratic voters are favorable toward the Party, only 34 percent are <em>very</em> favorable, with one in five are unfavorable toward their own party (19 percent). Among a series of attributes tested about how well different phrases describe the Party, the attribute Democrats perform worst on in this survey is &#8220;standing up to Trump <em>effectively</em>,&#8221; which only three in ten voters overall (29 percent)&#8212;and just two in five Democrats (42 percent)&#8212;say describes Democrats well.</p><p>Significant majorities of voters overall characterize the Democratic Party as being ineffective across other attributes, including fighting for people like me (56 percent say this does not describe the Democratic Party well), having strong leadership (64 percent say this does not describe the Democratic Party well), and getting things done (65 percent say this does not describe the Democratic Party well). While three in four Democratic voters believe &#8220;fights for people like me&#8221; describes Democrats well (74 percent), they are roughly split on other effectiveness measures: just 55 percent of Democrats say &#8220;has strong leadership&#8221; describes the Democratic Party well, and only 54 percent say that &#8220;get[ting] things done&#8221; describes them well.</p><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>Three Key Findings:</strong></em></p><p><strong>#1: &#9;Voters with different political profiles have strongly divergent views about how the Democratic Party and its leaders should position themselves ideologically.</strong> <strong>However, they are largely unified and sending much clearer signals about what they want and expect from the character and demeanor of their leadership, including fighting against Trump and Republicans.</strong> Among all voters, 50 percent think the Democratic Party&#8217;s position on policy issues should be more centrist or moderate compared to just 33 percent who want it to move further left.<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-3" href="#footnote-3" target="_self">3</a> This view is narrowly shared among double haters by 8 points (39 percent more left &#8211; 47 percent more centrist/moderate) and overwhelmingly held among persuadable voters by 47 points (12 percent more left &#8211; 59 percent more centrist/moderate). At the same time, Democratic voters think the Party should shift left by more than two to one (58 percent more left &#8211; 26 percent more centrist/moderate). This variation presents a significant challenge to the Democratic Party moving forward: it will be difficult to satisfy the ideological demands of its existing supporters while at the same time appealing to a broader coalition of voters not currently aligned with Democrats.</p><p>However, there are numerous dimensions where voters overall and among these groups agree about the future direction of the Democratic Party. By 15 points among all voters, <strong>they think the Democratic Party should fight against Trump and the Republican Party</strong> (49 percent) over giving in to them (34 percent). This includes Democrats by an overwhelming 82-point margin (87 percent should fight against them &#8211; 5 percent should give in to them) and double haters by 42 points (63 percent should fight against them &#8211; 21 percent should give in to them). Persuadable voters are more split, but a 13-point plurality favors fighting (39 percent) over giving in (26 percent).</p><p>This is far different from where voters currently see the Democratic Party. When testing attributes about the Party, only 39 percent of all voters think &#8220;standing up to Trump&#8221; describes it well (compared to 56 percent saying it does not describe the Party well); even fewer say &#8220;stands up to Trump effectively&#8221; describes the Party well (65 percent say it does not describe the Party well). Among Democrats, only half think the Democratic Party is &#8220;standing up to Trump&#8221; (52 percent describes well), and only 42 percent say &#8220;standing up to Trump effectively&#8221; describes the Party well.</p><p>There is significant alignment among Democrats, persuadable voters, and double haters on several other dimensions, including strong preferences for favoring the Democratic Party and its leaders <strong>having bigger ideas over smaller ones</strong>, <strong>being authentic</strong> over appealing to what they think voters want to hear, and <strong>offering a more forward-looking vision</strong> over focusing only on opposing Trump and Republicans&#8217; agenda. Some more detailed results include:</p><ul><li><p>Democrats <em><strong>should have bigger ideas</strong></em><strong> over smaller ideas</strong> (by a net 50 points overall, net 78 points among Democrats, net 56 points among double haters, and net 36 points among persuadable voters); </p></li><li><p>Democrats <em><strong>should say what they really believe</strong></em><strong> over adapting to what voters want to hear</strong> (by a net 46 points overall, net 49 points among Democrats, net 57 points among double haters, and net 51 points among persuadable voters); </p></li><li><p>Democrats <em><strong>should focus on proposing their own agenda</strong></em><strong> rather than focusing on opposing Trump and Republicans&#8217; agenda</strong> (by a net 37 points overall, net 18 points among Democrats, net 41 points among double haters, and net 48 points among persuadable voters);</p></li></ul><ul><li><p>Democrats <em><strong>should focus on pushing big reforms after Trump</strong></em><strong> rather than focusing on the way things were before Trump</strong> (by a net 34 points overall, net 39 points among Democrats, net 51 points among double haters, and net 33 points among persuadable voters); and,</p></li></ul><ul><li><p>Democrats <em><strong>should have leaders that are political outsiders</strong></em><strong> rather than being political insiders</strong> (by a net 18 points overall, net 10 points among Democrats, net 55 points among double haters, and net 37 points among persuadable voters).</p></li></ul><div><hr></div><p><strong>#2: &#9;The leaders in the Democratic Party who are viewed most favorably by voters are also seen as the strongest leaders; the least popular Party leaders are also seen as being the weakest. Meanwhile, favorability of leaders does not neatly track their perceived ideology. </strong>This survey asked respondents to rate 11 Democratic elected officials on three different dimensions: how favorable they are to each, how strong or weak a leader they think each is, and where they rate each on a 7-point ideology scale from &#8220;very liberal&#8221; to &#8220;very conservative.&#8221; There is a strong correlation between favorability and perceived strength: for example, the most favorable leaders <em>among all voters</em> are Senator Mark Kelly (net +8), Senator Bernie Sanders (net +3), Governor Josh Shapiro (net +2), and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (net -3). In all cases, they are the top four leaders in perceived strength (Kelly net +7 strong, Sanders net +8 strong, Shapiro net +9 strong, Ocasio-Cortez net +5 strong). Conversely, the most unfavorable officials tested&#8212;Joe Biden (net -15) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (net -28)&#8212;are also seen as weaker leaders (Biden net -34 strong; Schumer net -30 strong).</p><p>However, the relationship between favorability of these officials and how they are perceived ideologically is more complex: <strong>those with the highest net favorability ratings are a mix of those seen as more moderate (Kelly, Shapiro, Governor Wes Moore, Governor J.B. Pritzker) and two officials who are seen as among the most ideologically liberal (Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez).</strong><a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-4" href="#footnote-4" target="_self">4</a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9R7V!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9R7V!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9R7V!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9R7V!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9R7V!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9R7V!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif" width="1262" height="698" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/dc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:698,&quot;width&quot;:1262,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:50199,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/avif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://bryannbennett.substack.com/i/195664880?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9R7V!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9R7V!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9R7V!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9R7V!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc458987-9abc-46e0-a964-48904fd9c3ae_1262x698.avif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>The current and recent institutional leaders of the Democratic Party, including Biden, Kamala Harris, Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have double-digit net negative favorability ratings and are among the lowest of the 11 figures tested in this survey. That may reflect the finding that only 32 percent of voters surveyed believe &#8220;has strong leadership&#8221; describes the Democratic Party well&#8212;a view held by just 55 percent of Democrats, 13 percent of persuadable voters, and only 9 percent of double haters.</p><p>Self-reported Democrats behave similarly to all registered voters when it comes to the relationships between favorability, strength, and ideology. That is especially true after accounting for lower name recognition or less formed opinions. When looking at the favorability and strength of the officials in this survey among only those with formed opinions about them, Democrats rate Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, Kelly, and Pritzker as the most favorable and strongest officials, notwithstanding the fact that Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are seen as the most liberal, Kelly is seen as among the most moderate, with Pritzker in between.<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-5" href="#footnote-5" target="_self">5</a></p><div><hr></div><p><strong>#3: &#9;In a direct head-to-head choice, Democratic and independent voters say they prioritize strength as more important than ideological alignment or authenticity when considering who to vote for. </strong>This survey asked these voters which mattered most to them in evaluating a Democratic official or candidate for elected office. By a more than a two-to-one margin, 69 percent of Democratic and independent voters said that &#8220;someone who I see as fighting to get things done&#8221; mattered more to them than &#8220;someone who I agree with on most issues&#8221; (31 percent). In a separate question, 68 percent agreed that it mattered more that a Democratic candidate or official was &#8220;someone who I see as fighting to get things done&#8221; than that the official was &#8220;someone who I see as genuinely believing what they say&#8221; (32 percent).</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!koo8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6269f029-5388-4c1a-990e-147c82198747_1053x555.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!koo8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6269f029-5388-4c1a-990e-147c82198747_1053x555.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!koo8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6269f029-5388-4c1a-990e-147c82198747_1053x555.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!koo8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6269f029-5388-4c1a-990e-147c82198747_1053x555.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!koo8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6269f029-5388-4c1a-990e-147c82198747_1053x555.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!koo8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6269f029-5388-4c1a-990e-147c82198747_1053x555.png" width="1053" height="555" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6269f029-5388-4c1a-990e-147c82198747_1053x555.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:555,&quot;width&quot;:1053,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!koo8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6269f029-5388-4c1a-990e-147c82198747_1053x555.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!koo8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6269f029-5388-4c1a-990e-147c82198747_1053x555.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!koo8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6269f029-5388-4c1a-990e-147c82198747_1053x555.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!koo8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6269f029-5388-4c1a-990e-147c82198747_1053x555.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Double haters also agree with these preferences: 57 percent say &#8220;someone who I see as fighting hard to get things done&#8221; matters more than someone they agree with on most issues, and 65 percent say the same over someone they see as genuinely believing what they say (35 percent).</p><p>Liberal Democrats do not vary substantially from non-liberal Democrats when it comes to prioritizing fight over ideology or authenticity: they want someone who they see as fighting to get things done over someone they agree with on the issues by 28 points (64 percent to 36 percent) and prefer someone fighting to get things done by 36 points over someone they see as genuinely believing what they say (68 percent to 32 percent).</p><div><hr></div><h1><strong>Conclusion</strong></h1><p>Collectively, these key findings build on what other recent public opinion surveys, like those from <strong><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/democratic-party-hits-new-polling-low-voters-want-fight-trump-harder-rcna196161">NBC News in March 2026</a></strong>, <strong><a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2026/many-democrats-are-still-down-on-the-democratic-party-a-new-ap-norc-poll-finds/">AP-NORC in April 2026</a></strong>, and <strong><a href="https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-23-poll-results-party-favs">Strength in Numbers in April 2026</a></strong>, have found: there is deep frustration with the Democratic Party and its leadership, and that there is a broad desire to see the Democratic Party fight harder and demonstrate strength in standing up to President Trump and Republicans in Congress.</p><div><hr></div><h1><strong>Appendix: Target Segments Composition and Political Identity</strong></h1><ul><li><p><strong>Democrats: </strong>48 percent of the total sample (including 9 percent who identify as independents that lean toward the Democratic Party)</p><ul><li><p>An oversample of 402 additional self-reported Democrats was included in data collection for this survey.</p></li><li><p><em>Party ID:</em> 100 percent Democratic</p><ul><li><p>54 percent strong Democrat</p></li><li><p>26 percent not very strong Democrat</p></li><li><p>20 percent lean Democrat</p></li></ul></li><li><p><em>Favorability toward the Democratic Party:</em> net +61; 80 percent favorable &#8211; 19 percent unfavorable</p><ul><li><p>34 percent very favorable</p></li><li><p>46 percent somewhat favorable</p></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>Persuadable:</strong> 11 percent of the total sample</p><ul><li><p>Defined as:</p><ul><li><p>Must either be self-reported independents or Republicans</p></li><li><p>Must disapprove (somewhat or strongly) of President Trump&#8217;s job handling or be unsure how to rate his job handling</p></li></ul></li><li><p><em>Party ID:</em> 0 percent Democratic</p></li><li><p><em>Favorability toward the Democratic Party:</em> net -58; 19 percent favorable &#8211; 77 percent unfavorable</p><ul><li><p>32 percent somewhat unfavorable</p></li><li><p>46 percent very unfavorable</p></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>Double haters: </strong>16 percent of the total sample</p><ul><li><p><em>Party ID:</em> +16 Democratic (including leaners)</p><ul><li><p>50 percent Democrats (including leaners)</p></li><li><p>15 percent independents</p></li><li><p>34 percent Republicans (including leaners)</p></li></ul></li><li><p><em>Favorability toward the Democratic Party:</em> 100 percent unfavorable</p><ul><li><p>54 percent somewhat unfavorable</p></li><li><p>46 percent very unfavorable</p></li></ul></li><li><p><em>Favorability toward the Republican Party:</em> 100 percent unfavorable</p><ul><li><p>34 percent somewhat unfavorable</p></li><li><p>66 percent very unfavorable</p></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-1" href="#footnote-anchor-1" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">1</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>Loft Beck Strategies conducted a nationally representative online survey among n = 1,500 registered voters from April 2-7, 2026. In addition, the survey had an oversample of n = 402 self-reported Democrats. Data was collected by YouGov and matched against the TargetSmart voter file. The margin of error of the total sample at the 95 percent confidence level is +/- 2.9 percentage points, and is +/- 3.5 percentage points among self-reported Democrats.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-2" href="#footnote-anchor-2" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">2</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>There is an appendix at the end of this memo for more information about the composition and political identities of these different groups.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-3" href="#footnote-anchor-3" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">3</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>In the survey, half of respondents were shown this question with the word &#8220;centrist&#8221; and half of respondents were shown this question with the word &#8220;moderate.&#8221; The results from this split-sample experiment were not significantly different, and were merged together for analysis across the full sample.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-4" href="#footnote-anchor-4" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">4</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>Across all Democratic figures tested, there is a strong positive correlation between higher favorability and being rated a strong leader (r = 0.84), while there is a weak to negligible negative correlation between higher favorability and liberal ideology (r = -0.24), suggesting only a directional effect that associations with being viewed as liberal reduces favorability. These results are from a weighted Pearson correlation analysis pooled across all respondents for all Democratic elected officials tested in the survey.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-5" href="#footnote-anchor-5" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">5</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>These results exclude anyone who does not have either a favorable or unfavorable opinion of an individual and calculates favorability, strength, and ideology among those familiar with them. For example: Senator Mark Kelly has a 35 percent favorable rating among all voters. When excluding the 38 percent who have heard of him and don&#8217;t have an opinion, his <em>adjusted</em> favorability <em>among those familiar with him</em> would be 56 percent.</p></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Should Immediately Start a (Video) Podcast]]></title><description><![CDATA[Moments are few and far between to generate tens of millions of views on YouTube. Fired late night hosts joining forces when under attack may likely be one of those moments.]]></description><link>https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/stephen-colbert-and-jimmy-kimmel</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/stephen-colbert-and-jimmy-kimmel</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 11:30:29 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/60cc3035-1c75-41d3-b473-0dadad09d1bd_1320x2031.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>On Sunday night at the Primetime Emmy Awards, Nate Bargatze made a joke in his opening monologue that was awkward only because of its deep and cutting honesty: </p><blockquote><p><em>Everybody gets 45 seconds, and honestly, give your speech, I know how hard you guys have all worked to get here, I&#8217;m not trying to take anything away&#8230; 45 seconds, that&#8217;s what you&#8217;ve got, and if y&#8230;</em></p></blockquote>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Senate Democrats Should Refuse to Help Republicans Keep the Government Open]]></title><description><![CDATA[It may seem counterintuitive, but by shutting down, Democrats in Congress have a rare opportunity to make an affirmative case for what government can and should be.]]></description><link>https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/senate-democrats-should-refuse-to</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/senate-democrats-should-refuse-to</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2025 13:31:59 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2hWS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F701464f9-28c7-4448-9916-3bd5dfbd6a7b_993x668.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Over the weekend, Ezra Klein <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/opinion/trump-senate-democrats-shutdown.html">persuasively argued</a> that Senate Democrats had few arguments or rationales to work with Republicans to avoid a government shutdown. There were two sections of his piece that grabbed my attention. The first related to the conditions in March that may have made it prudent for Democrats to avoid a shutdown: </p><blockquote><p><em>Democrats had not pre&#8230;</em></p></blockquote>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Countercurrent in Public Opinion That Should Keep Democrats on High Alert]]></title><description><![CDATA[While there are some similarities to the political landscape of today compared to eight years ago, one big difference between now and then could be a five-alarm fire for Democrats.]]></description><link>https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/the-countercurrent-in-public-opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/the-countercurrent-in-public-opinion</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 18 Aug 2025 12:31:36 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L0aH!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa54ff2bf-f3fe-4a76-b59b-17da73f70b49_781x326.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/why-the-resistance-20-is-so-frustrating">Last week</a>, I wrote about the many ways there were differences in the political landscape between 2017, the first year of the first Trump administration, and 2025, the first year of Trump&#8217;s second term. This week, I&#8217;m focusing less on some of the broader atmospherics (less organic resistance, reduced investment in Democratic and progressive infrastructur&#8230;</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why “The Resistance 2.0” Is So Frustrating, and Some Things to Do About That]]></title><description><![CDATA[The world is dramatically different in 2025 than it was in 2017. Democrats and progressives may need to set a lot more money on fire in order to rise to the occasion.]]></description><link>https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/why-the-resistance-20-is-so-frustrating</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/why-the-resistance-20-is-so-frustrating</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 11 Aug 2025 12:30:55 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AXm5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90f344e1-b74c-43c0-99ed-ce74d4f8ba94_1220x936.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>On last Friday&#8217;s <em><a href="https://crooked.com/podcast/trump-goes-bananas/">Pod Save America</a></em>, Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer took a 13-minute existential detour at the beginning of the episode that I found refreshing (albeit depressing) in taking our current moment and putting it in a bird&#8217;s-eye view.<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-1" href="#footnote-1" target="_self">1</a> The whole conversation is worth listening to in full, but some of the following quotes caught my attention in par&#8230;</p>
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          <a href="https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/why-the-resistance-20-is-so-frustrating">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Democrats Need More Public Introspection About a Vision For Improving Its Toxic Brand]]></title><description><![CDATA[Republican governance is deeply unpopular, but Democrats are taking a huge risk with their own brand if they define themselves solely in opposition to Donald Trump and Republicans.]]></description><link>https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/democrats-need-more-public-introspection</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/democrats-need-more-public-introspection</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 04 Aug 2025 12:30:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JkhW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F253514e9-a6fc-42a0-812c-902ddd60fe43_1244x511.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Over the past week, two progressive issue advocacy organizations publicly shared polling they commissioned with highly-respected and influential firms: <a href="https://impactresearch.com/">Impact Research</a><a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-1" href="#footnote-1" target="_self">1</a> conducted a survey for <a href="https://www.endcitizensunited.org/">End Citizens United</a> (ECU) in <a href="https://frontline.dccc.org/">Frontline</a> congressional districts, and <a href="https://www.gbaostrategies.com/">GBAO</a> conducted a national survey for <a href="https://www.thirdway.org/">Third Way</a>.<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-2" href="#footnote-2" target="_self">2</a> The ECU survey, shared exclusively with <em><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-democrats-more-corrupt-than-republicans-poll-1235396092/">Rolling &#8230;</a></em></p>
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          <a href="https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/democrats-need-more-public-introspection">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Recuperating the Democratic Party's Brand Should Focus on Fixing Institutional Trust]]></title><description><![CDATA[The new WSJ survey may have been eye-catching, but the Democratic Party's brand erosion has been years in the making. Wrestling with broader distrust in government is one key to starting a recovery.]]></description><link>https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/recuperating-the-democratic-partys</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/recuperating-the-democratic-partys</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Bennett]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 28 Jul 2025 12:03:04 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0w20!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6d86d035-edcc-4718-b113-169f0d49532c_1260x660.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>On Saturday morning, <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> released the results of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/democratic-party-poll-voter-confidence-july-2025-9db38021">their latest national survey</a>, which led with a striking result: </p><blockquote><p><em>The Democratic Party&#8217;s image has eroded to its lowest point in more than three decades&#8230; the new survey finds that 63% of voters hold an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party&#8212;the highest share in Journal polls dating to &#8230;</em></p></blockquote>
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          <a href="https://bryannbennett.substack.com/p/recuperating-the-democratic-partys">
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