A new Gallup poll finds that less than 1% of Democrats are satisfied with the direction of the country.
Why is this important?
According to Gallup polls, this is the lowest level of satisfaction among Democrats in at least 25 years, and comes at a time when Republican satisfaction is nearing its highest level.
The poll shows that Democratic satisfaction with the direction of the country declined rapidly after Republican President Donald Trump’s return to office in January, while Republican support rose sharply.
What To Know
According to Gallup, 31% of Americans currently say they are satisfied with the direction of the country, down from 38% in May, the highest level since Trump’s return to office in January.
The poll reveals that the gap between Democrats and Republicans on this question is the widest since 2001.
While 76% of Republicans say they are satisfied with the direction of the country, only 0.4% of Democrats share this view. This 76-point gap is the widest ever recorded by Gallup on this measure, despite a gap of 75 points in May and 74 points in March and July.
Americans’ satisfaction with U.S. by party ID
In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time?
Meanwhile, just 25 percent of independents say they are currently satisfied with the direction of the country.
Gallup polls showed that Republicans were just as dissatisfied with the direction of the country last July as Democrats are today. However, the partisan gap then was 35 percentage points, with only 36% of Democrats satisfied.
At the same time, Gallup also found that only 40% of Americans approve of Trump’s performance as president. The partisan gap was significant: 93% of Republicans approve of Trump’s overall performance, compared to just 1% of Democrats.
These Gallup results come as Trump has called for Texas and other Republican-led states to adopt redistricting plans by mid-decade to make it easier for the Republican Party to maintain its slim majority in the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections, which often clash with the incumbent’s party. California is holding special elections in November so voters can approve new electoral maps, and other Democratic-led states are also considering redrawing their maps.
What People Are Saying
Robert Shapiro, a political science professor at Columbia University, told Newsweek: “Two factors are at play. The first is Democrats’ genuine dissatisfaction with the economic situation, particularly in terms of prices, tariffs, etc., and widespread opposition to Trump’s actions.
Second, partisan cognitive biases lead Democrats to view the situation as worse than it is, and Republicans as better than it is. This would be good news for Democrats if it mobilized voters in 2026. Voters are not satisfied with the Democratic Party and its leaders.”
Costas Panagopoulos, a political science professor at Northeastern University, told Newsweek: “This is just one manifestation of the extreme partisan polarization that currently prevails in the country.”
Americans’ opinion on the state of the nation reflects their partisanship. Given that the Republican Party currently controls the federal government, Republicans generally feel complacent, while Democrats, a minority with few leverage, harbor a pessimistic view of the country’s future.
Grant Davis Reher, a political science professor at Syracuse University, told Newsweek that if the latest polling results reflect “an increase in frustration in the form of anger, that could be a motivating factor in 2026 in terms of voter turnout, volunteering, donations, and so on, which is good news for Democrats.”
He added, “But if it reflects alienation among Democrats, which could lead to resignation and political stagnation—which is different from acceptance—it could jeopardize those same electoral factors. I imagine it reflects a mix of both, and the question then becomes: which one dominates?” »
He added: “Democrats are generally dissatisfied with their leadership right now, and that doesn’t bode well. But they’re very angry. I still expect Republicans to lose control of the House of Representatives, largely because of history and the weakness of their majority.”
Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky, told Newsweek that voter satisfaction “tracks closely along partisan lines, declining when respondents dislike the president and rising sharply when they do. This isn’t just because they like the policies of one president over another, which would naturally lead to variations in satisfaction with the national government.
“Even satisfaction with the economy has a partisan tinge: Republicans and Democrats change their assessments as soon as there’s a change in the presidency, even if the country’s economic performance has remained completely unchanged.”
Voss said that Democratic voters “are extremely angry right now, frustrated not only by the sweeping policy changes implemented by the Republican Party, but also by the inability of their party’s leaders to reverse them.”
More left-leaning voters are upset that their leaders can’t or won’t do more, while even moderate Democrats, who usually tolerate Republican leadership, are reacting negatively to the aggressiveness of the new Trump administration.