As congressional Democrats push back against second-term Republican President Donald Trump’s policies, from border security and his mass deportation efforts to tariffs and energy policies, nearly 3 in 4 Democratic voters say their elected representatives in Congress aren’t doing enough.
The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll conducted by Noble Predictive Insights, surveyed registered voters nationally via an opt-in online panel and text-to-web cell phone messages. The sample included 2,527 respondents, comprised of 1,089 Republicans, 1,187 Democrats, and 251 True Independents. It is one of six national tracking polls in the U.S.
Only Democrats were asked: “Should Democrats in Congress fight Trump more often, compromise with him more or continue doing what they’re doing?”
Seventy four percent said they should fight more, 12% said compromise more, and 8% said continue what they’re doing. An additional 6% said they were unsure.
Democrats also were asked: “Would you say that the Democratic Party is too liberal, too moderate or are they about right on the issues?”
A plurality, 46%, said their party is about right on the issues; 21% said the party is too moderate; and 20% said too liberal. Another 13% said they were unsure.
David Byler, head of research at Noble Predictive Insights, said he doesn’t see Democrats’ responses to the two questions being in conflict.
“I don’t think the desire for centrism and the desire to fight are in conflict,” Byler told The Center Square. “Democrats are scared to death of losing elections to Trump, so they don’t want to go too extreme. Also Biden, for all of his political shortcomings, was fundamentally a coalition-builder in his instincts. His basic strategy was to give every piece of his party something to be happy about, without steering the ship too hard in his personally preferred direction. So a lot of Democrats feel OK about the party as he exits.”
In a separate question from the same poll, Democrats did not have a consensus on who the new leader of their party is. A plurality – 38% – said there isn’t one or they don’t know who it is. The individual selected by the most Democrats was former Vice President Kamala Harris at 10%. Harris replaced then-President Joe Biden on the ballot last year after Biden exited the race. She went on to lose the presidential election to Donald Trump, who won the national popular vote and all of the swing states.
“That fear of losing elections – combined with general contentment with the party’s platform – can coexist with the party’s very negative feelings about Trump,” Byler said. “Voters don’t feel like they need to reimagine what being a Democrat means. But they really want to fight Trump.”
The poll was conducted from April 15-18 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.0%.
