AP: Democrats are deeply pessimistic about the future of their party, an AP-NORC poll finds

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://apnews.com/article/poll-democrats-pessimism-sanders-ocasio-cortez-schumer-8dcde90d9666721fb376db90140f8e23

Democrats are deeply pessimistic about the future of their party, an AP-NORC poll finds

BY STEVE PEOPLES AND LINLEY SANDERS
Updated 7:24 AM EDT, May 14, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — Six months after Donald Trump’s presidential victory, Democrats remain deeply pessimistic about the future of their party, although neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party is viewed favorably by a majority of U.S. adults.

A new poll conducted earlier this month by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that only about one-third of Democrats are “very optimistic” or even “somewhat optimistic” about their party’s future. That’s down sharply from July 2024, when about 6 in 10 Democrats said they had a positive outlook.

“I’m not real high on Democrats right now,” said poll respondent Damien Williams, a 48-year-old Democrat from Cahokia Heights, Illinois. “To me, they’re not doing enough to push back against Trump.”

The poll comes at a critical moment for the Democratic Party, which is desperately seeking momentum after losing the White House and both chambers of Congress in last fall’s general election. In the survey, Democrats offer mixed reviews for some of their party’s best-known elected officials — including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both of New York — while reporting significant concerns about how leaders are chosen in the U.S. political system.

…

[Lovie777]

1. I find shithole musk republicans are doing their best to sour Democrats............

they forget one thing, the economy, healthcare, education, child care, et al.

[NewHendoLib]

2. I'm pessimistic about the whole fucking world.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. I gotta say, "I'm with you."

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Dems have no focus because they have no power

That being said we have to lead with issues that are popular and not polarizing, and in some respects focus on broad principles rather than issues. Don't make things worse and stimulate the outrage at Trump.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. I believe you're too generous

This lack of “focus” is nothing particularly new.

Can you honestly say Democrats were more focused during the Obama administration? The Clinton administration? The Carter administration?

[OKIsItJustMe]

27. "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat" - Will Rogers

[cadoman]

32. which makes it all the more important to focus on states where we do have power

The next four years are a good time to be more state-centric than Federal in our thinking.

Firstly, because we have control of the best states, and secondly because repukes will be loathe to reduce state power.

What are the results of this? Blue states being beacons of hope in a red wasteland. Outposts of diversity and inclusion. Ports of safety for immigrants who want to work in construction, farming, and food service. Healthcare systems that honor a woman's right to choose. Educational environments where all races, orientations, and genders are welcome and loved. Libraries that pride themselves on including books rather than banning them.

And if you can't get behind that, well at least you don't have to upload your driver's license to get your porn.

[JustAnotherGen]

5. Doesn't track with this article

RandySF Thread:
GOP Fears Omaha's First Black Mayor Is Start of a Democratic Wave
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220316674

The link within in his thread:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-fears-omahas-first-black-mayor-is-start-of-a-democratic-wave/

If I have my way - when the regime falls, I don't want to hear anything about reaching across the aisle, coming together getting back to 'normal' as a status quo. If Jasmine Crockett is correct - and I believe she's telling the truth - that's going to disqualify Gavin Newsom.

He's just the type that will try to blow sunshine and rainbows up my ass.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. So, you're saying Republicans are pessimistic about their own party too?

I don’t see where there’s any great contradiction there.

[JustAnotherGen]

25. No

I'm saying the media is making something out of nothing to suppress Democratic enthusiasm. I do believe there will be an election next year. And I also believe Republicans will be trounced.

I also believe this spending bill.is going to hurt Red districts - and those people will retaliate.

[OKIsItJustMe]

26. That would be alright with me!

However, I gotta tell you, I hear a fair deal of dissatisfaction…

While I don’t especially care for “bumper sticker politics,” I wonder, if you could help me write one:
“The Democratic Party Stands For _________”

[JustAnotherGen]

29. Voting Rights

Fair and Equitable Pay
Reduced Housing Costs
Home buying assistance.
Soft Diplomacy
The well being of every child in our country.
Fair taxation.
The power of Unions.
Infrastructure Revitalization
Wind Power



Want me to go on?

Oh p.s Voting Rights. - its my second biggest issue after Voting Rights.

[OKIsItJustMe]

30. No, you're missing my point

What i want is a simple one-line statement, which will fit on a bumper sticker.

[somsai]

31. The little guy

Used to be a universally understood concept that could be applied to just about all issues.

[Mr.WeRP]

8. When you have a "donor class" trying to pick the next candidate and oust David Hogg

While marginalizing Bernie, AOC, and others, it’s no wonder. AIPAC Schumer is in charge and he’s defending Democracy by caving, so there’s that.

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. I know I'm in the minority, but I supported Schumer in his decision

He chose the least worst alternative.
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-i-knew-i-d-get-criticized-schumer-on-why-he-s-helping-republicans-avoid-shutdown-234383941781

[Mr.WeRP]

11. When all the people he was trying to "protect" by caving

Lose their support via Medicaid, are sent to a prison in El Salvador with no due process, or are just shit out of luck without healthcare or assistance, kicked to the curb homeless begging on the street, what will he have accomplished beyond delaying the innevitable?

[OKIsItJustMe]

13. Like I said, "least worst"

Ignoring the fact that a “shut down” stops all of that stuff, without a budget, the Executive Branch would be free to do as they wanted.

Days before Schumer’s apparent about-face, WIRED ran this:

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-has-wanted-the-government-shut-down/

MAR 11, 2025 1:21 PM
Elon Musk Has Wanted the Government Shutdown
Sources tell WIRED that Elon Musk has wanted a government shutdown in part because it would potentially make it easier to eliminate the jobs of hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

As President Donald Trump has been trying to keep House Republicans in line over a continuing resolution to keep the government open through the fall, Elon Musk has expressed a desire for a government shutdown, four sources familiar with his position tell WIRED.

Sources also tell WIRED that Musk has wanted a government shutdown—an aim that runs contrary to the White House’s stated desire to avoid one—in part because it would potentially make it easier to eliminate the jobs of hundreds of thousands of federal workers, essentially achieving a permanent shutdown. The sources, whom WIRED has granted anonymity, specifically asked to be described generically because information about Musk’s support for a shutdown is closely held.

“A shutdown has been his preference,” says one Republican familiar with the situation, referring to Musk. “I think he’s boxed in there by the president. I think it would be really hard for him to get around that.”

A second Republican who had heard about Musk’s desire for a government shutdown tells WIRED that the billionaire’s goal is for the continuing resolution—a spending bill to temporarily fund the government—to tank, if only to achieve a brief government shutdown.

…

(Go back and watch Schumer’s interview.)

[Mr.WeRP]

15. We're going to not agree in this. Trump needed to be handed a loss

Plain and simple and a shutdown would have achieved that. It would have forced a negotiation and Democrats could have gotten anything out of it they wanted. Trump is famous for caving… just look at the China agreement.

[OKIsItJustMe]

17. A "shut down" would have been a win for Trump

Trump has been calling for a “shut down” for years.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-government-shutdown-musk-stopgap-bill-b2666829.html

Trump demands government shutdown after Elon Musk rants over stopgap funding bill
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have raged against the bill while the president-elect remained silent until the final hour

Andrew Feinberg in Washington, D.C. ,Eric Garcia
Thursday 19 December 2024 00:57 GMT

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance have demanded that Republicans in the House and Senate effectively force the federal government to shut down rather than pass a stopgap funding bill that would have kept agencies running at current funding levels through the end of March 2025.

In a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter) by Vance, the incoming president and vice president groused that the bill doesn’t raise the nation’s statutory debt ceiling and accused legislators of “considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney” – because the continuing resolution drafted by House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team would have kept the executive branch from using a loophole in the law to obtain phone and other communications records from members of Congress and aides who are supposed to be protected by congressional immunity.

They also complained about the bill not declining an annual pay increase for members of Congress who haven’t gotten a raise in nearly two decades, and urged passage of “a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.”

“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” they said, adding a baseless accusation that it is President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats who are holding up passage of the funding bill, which includes billions in disaster relief and aid to farmers.

…

[Mr.WeRP]

18. Sure it would

[OKIsItJustMe]

19. Politico: The Shutdown Fight That Could Play Right Into Trump's Hands

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/10/democrats-government-shutdown-column-00203440

The Shutdown Fight That Could Play Right Into Trump’s Hands
There isn’t one neat trick to defeating Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s war on the federal government.

By RACHAEL BADE
02/10/2025 05:35 PM EST

…

The legal basis for the modern federal shutdown traces back to a 1980 memorandum penned for President Jimmy Carter by then-Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti. It spelled out his interpretation of what a lapse in funding would mean for a federal agency: No spending whatsoever “except as necessary to bring about the orderly termination of an agency’s functions.” He later amended that to exempt functions connected to “the safety of human life or the protection of property.”

In other words, a government bureaucrat created the shutdown, and a government bureaucrat could destroy it. Trump’s new attorney general, Pam Bondi, might not even need to rescind Civiletti’s guidance: The White House Office of Management and Budget exercises huge influence in determining what activities are essential under the memo and which aren’t.

And if we know anything about Trump’s newly confirmed OMB director, Russ Vought, it’s that he has little regard for the niceties of bureaucratic precedent. It’s not hard to imagine him working with Trump and even Musk to designate a much broader swath of favored agencies to continue operating while other, disfavored corners of government are shut down and their workers sent home.

A DOGE shutdown, in other words, could hand carte blanche to Musk, Vought & Co. to remake the federal government in the very same ways that Democrats want to fight against. In some ways, it could be even easier, in fact — a veritable dream for them.

…

[Mr.WeRP]

20. Keep citing bs.. it so helps your cause

[OKIsItJustMe]

21. The issue is not as clear-cut as you think

As a personal take, I found it hypocritical that after years of (rightly) criticizing Republicans for shutting down the government, some Democrats decided they were all in favor of it.

The first step in home improvement is not to burn down your house. (I have never understood demonstrators who would torch their own neighborhood.)

[Mr.WeRP]

22. Let me guess...

You are a Garland apologist too…

Wasn’t that hard of a guess.

Listen up if you are part of the party apparatus… you are losing the base even more

[OKIsItJustMe]

23. Politics they say is "the art of the possible"

https://politicaldictionary.com/words/art-of-the-possible/

Art of the Possible
The “art of the possible” is idea that politics is a matter of pragmatism, instead of idealism.

According to this worldview, politics is a matter of creating achievable goals and implementing them in the real world.

Origin of “Art of the Possible”
The idea probably dates back to ancient times. However, it’s most closely associated with the 19th century German statesman Otto von Bismarck, who was behind the reunification of Germany. Bismarck famously said that “politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.”

The economist Kenneth Galbraith expressed a more negative view of political pragmatism when he said, “Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.”

…

Schumer chose the unpalatable.

[OKIsItJustMe]

24. More than Garland, I blame Democrats for not invoking the 14th amendment in 2021

https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-14/

…

Section 3

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

…

In my opinion, when the 2nd impeachment failed in the Senate, they should have immediately called for votes in both houses to see if Donald Trump could serve as President again. Without both houses voting by ⅔’s majorities to allow it, we would not be where we are today, but they failed to imagine that Americans would be stupid enough to elect him again after the events of January 6. 2021.

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/03/01/underestimate/

…

No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby. The mistake that is made always runs the other way. Because the plain people are able to speak and understand, and even, in many cases, to read and write, it is assumed that they have ideas in their heads, and an appetite for more. This assumption is a folly.

…

[RandiFan1290]

10. "To me, they're not doing enough to push back against Trump."

Amen!

[OKIsItJustMe]

14. I have written to my representative and senators and said I want to hear two things from you

1. Here’s what I’m doing to stop climate change.
2. Here’s what I’m doing to stop Donald Trump

[dgauss]

12. I think these unfavorable polls about Democrats can be misleading.

Many people are frustrated of disappointed that Democrats aren't doing more to stop the Republicans. Whether that's justified or not, I think it's that frustration that is responsible for a lot of these polls, not dissatisfaction for Democratic party principles or goals. Those people will vote Democratic.

[OKIsItJustMe]

16. Admitting that "Statistically, the people I know make a lousy sample"

I personally know people who (pragmatically) vote for Democrats as the best way to vote against Republicans, not because they are supportive of Democrats per se.

But, seriously, people told me personally that they were dissatisfied with Biden Harris because:

1. they felt Biden and Harris were too weak on climate change. (Did they think Trump’s climate stance would be better? “Well, no, but…”)
2. they felt Biden and Harris were too sympathetic to Israel. (Did they think Trump’s stance on Gaza would be better? “Well, no, but…”)

There were more example of what I thought were irrational reasons to vote against Biden or Harris. Personally, I think a lot of the blame can be laid at the feet of foreign influence via our social media.

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

28. But it's all worked out so well.

What we really need is more of the same.