Survey Says is a weekly series rounding up the most important polling trends or data points you need to know about, plus a vibe check on a trend that’s driving politics or culture.
You may have heard that the Democratic Party is facing a crisis: The brand is weak. Poll after poll shows Americans view the party no more favorably than the Republican Party, despite the GOP having a generally reviled leader in President Donald Trump.
Those are just the toplines, though. And the funny thing is, when surveys get more specific, a different pattern emerges: Americans trust the Democrats a lot more than the Republicans.
A recent YouGov poll showed that familiar topline: 38% of Americans viewed the Democratic Party favorably, and 38% viewed the Republican Party favorably.
But then it asked which party Americans trust more across 29 issues, ranging from the environment and education to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. On 12 issues, neither party is more trusted than the other, or a party’s advantage is within the poll’s margin of error.
Of the remaining 17 issues, the Democratic Party has an edge on 14.
Many are the typical areas of strength for Democrats: health care, democracy, and abortion. Their biggest leads come on LGBTQ+ issues (25 percentage points), the environment (23 points), and vaccines (21 points)—areas in which the GOP is particularly hostile.
Compare that with the Republican Party, which Americans trust more on only three issues: the military, Venezuela, and crime.
But there is also the issue of magnitude.
Democrats have double-digit advantages on a dozen issues, including the Epstein investigation (19 points) and sweeping policy areas like civil rights (18 points) and education (14 points). But Republicans have a double-digit lead on only one issue—and barely. By 10 points, Americans trust the GOP more than the Democrats to handle crime.
For the public, there seems to be a disconnect. They don’t like the Democratic Party, but when the only realistic alternative is the Republican Party, well, a lot of them trust Democrats just fine.
Party preference is far from the only area where this disconnect shows up.
In 2024, just ahead of the presidential election, 55% of Americans wanted to decrease the number of immigrants allowed into the United States, according to Gallup. It was a shocking topline—and it crumbled quite a bit when Americans were asked exactly what types of immigrants should not be allowed into the country.
For instance, should a 13-year-old boy and his family fleeing war be allowed into the United States? Only 20% of voters would turn them away, per a Data for Progress poll fielded in January 2025. And notably, Gallup’s data also swung back hard in 2025, with the share wanting less immigration falling 25 points, to just 30%.
The disconnect also turns up when it comes to government regulation.
Since 2006, a plurality of Americans has consistently said there is too much government regulation, according to Gallup data. In 2024, 42% said there was too much, while just 27% said there wasn’t enough. The share wanting more regulation has never seen more than 31% support since Gallup first began asking the question, in 2001.
However, more specificity begets more support.
Another new YouGov poll asked Americans about their thoughts on the level of regulation for 42 different industries. And when it comes time to pick, which industries do Americans think need deregulation? The answer is … none.
Yes, there is not a single industry for which the share of Americans in favor of less regulation is higher than the share that wants more regulation.
In fact, shocking majorities of Americans want higher regulation of some industries. Nearly 80% want increased regulation of artificial intelligence, and at least 60% want more for social media, health insurance, pharmaceuticals, cryptocurrency, and gambling.
But not only that, there are 25 industries where the share wanting more regulation is meaningfully higher than the share that wants regulation to remain as is. That includes industries as divisive as firearms. A majority of Americans (57%) want more regulation of the gun industry, while only 14% want less regulation and 20% want the level of regulation to remain the same.
For 12 industries, the pro-status-quo share is larger than the share that wants increased regulation, but the difference is statistically meaningful for only seven. And there is just one industry (fashion) for which a majority of Americans want the level of regulation to remain as is.
What all of this tells us is that Americans often think in sweeping terms—I don’t trust the Democratic Party, I don’t like red tape, etc.—but when forced to think things through, they like their other options even less.
Any updates?
Vibe check
Daily Kos has run two big previews of the 2028 Democratic primary—one from me in December, and one from Markos Moulitsas in early March—but neither tackled things across the aisle. That’s largely because, as early polling shows, the race is shaping up as you’d expect. Vice President JD Vance has led by a comfortable margin in every poll that the firm Echelon Insights has conducted since November 2024.
That said, Vance’s standing has recently wobbled. Mostly, it has hovered between 40% and 47%, but it dipped to 37% in February. That tracks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s rise in the polls, though his best showing—16% in March—is still well behind Vance.
Which candidate would you prefer Democrats face at the top of the Republican ticket in 2028?
Source:
www.dailykos.com
