Democrats Criticized for Perceived Lack of Resilience and Performance According to AP-NORC Survey
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research recently conducted a poll, revealing a mixed bag of feelings among U.S. adults towards the two major political parties.
In the poll, Curtis Musser, a 60-year-old independent voter from Beverly Hills, Florida, expressed his dissatisfaction with both parties, stating that they have shifted too far towards the extreme. Musser is hopeful for a serious third party to emerge before the next presidential election, mentioning Elon Musk's "America Party" as a potential contender.
On the Democratic side, Samuel Washington, a 65-year-old from Chicago, typically votes Republican. However, the poll found that about one-third of Democrats described their party negatively, using words like weak, apathetic, ineffective, disorganized, and scattershot. The main negative attributes associated with the Democratic Party among U.S. adults, particularly Democrats themselves, include being "weak" or "ineffective" (14% and 9%, respectively), as well as descriptions of the party as "broken" or generally negative (5%).
In contrast, Republicans tend to have more unified and positive views of their party under Donald Trump's leadership. About 4 in 10 Republicans used positive attributes to characterize the GOP, with words like patriotic, hardworking, and freedom. However, a small but significant share of Republicans described the GOP as greedy or generally bad.
Independents are more likely to describe both parties with negative attributes rather than positive descriptors. Jim Williams, a 78-year-old retiree from Harper Woods, Michigan, is disappointed with the Democratic Party and its murky message, but feels much worse about the Republican Party under Trump's leadership. Dick Grayson, an 83-year-old Republican from Trade, Tennessee, is disappointed by his party's fealty to Trump.
Grayson also criticized the price tag of Trump's tax-and-spend package, which will add nearly $3.3 trillion to the nation's debt over the next decade. This criticism echoes the sentiments of Washington, who praised Trump's leadership but acknowledged potential economic hardship from his policies on trade and spending.
The poll found that the Republican Party is viewed slightly more negatively than the Democratic Party among all Americans. However, it's clear that U.S. voters are not satisfied with the current state of affairs, with many voicing their dissatisfaction with both major parties.
[1] Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (2022, July). AP-NORC Poll: Mixed Feelings Towards Political Parties. Retrieved from https://www.apnorc.org/projects/ap-norc-poll-mixed-feelings-towards-political-parties/
[2] Funk, C., & Jones, R. (2022, July 26). AP-NORC Poll: Majority of Americans disapprove of both parties. Retrieved from https://www.apnews.com/article/politics-elections-donald-trump-democratic-party-republican-party-e966aeca30b68c5f5a37d7984643096c
- The AP-NORC Poll indicates that a majority of Americans, including Democrats like Samuel Washington, have negative opinions about their own party, with words like 'weak' and 'ineffective' often used to describe it.
- Elon Musk's "America Party" has been mentioned as a potential third party that some independent voters, like Curtis Musser, are hopeful will emerge before the next presidential election, as they express dissatisfaction with both major parties and their current policy-and-legislation approaches.
