- The Washington Times - Friday, December 12, 2014

In the wake of the Democrats’ losses in this year’s midterm elections, a new poll shows the favorability of the Democratic party dropping — continuing a trend seen elsewhere.

Forty-one percent of Americans have a favorable view of the Democratic party, compared to 54 percent who have an unfavorable opinion, according to a Pew Research/USA Today poll. That’s down from a 47 percent favorability rating for the party in October and among the most negative measures of favorability in more than two decades.

Thirty-seven percent view the Republican party favorably and 57 percent view it unfavorably, which is little changed over the past year.

About three-quarters of Democrats and Republicans view their own party favorably, but the percentage of Democrats who say so has dropped from 85 percent in October to 76 percent. Independents’ favorable view of the Democratic party dropped from 41 percent to 33 percent over that period.

Republicans, though they had a lower favorable rating overall, were more stable since October. GOP favorability of the Republican party went from 81 percent in October to 78 percent, and independents’ favorable ratings went from 33 percent to 32 percent.

Other surveys have also shown the Democratic party’s favorability taking a hit, with Gallup even observing a “bandwagon effect” of Americans’ political allegiances shifting toward the GOP after the midterms.


SEE ALSO: Democratic party favorability now at all-time low


The Pew survey of 1,507 adults was taken from Dec. 3-7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.

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