Democrats sink to record-low favorability, as RFK gets bad ratings

Democrats sink to record-low favorability, as RFK gets bad ratings
Source: Daily Mail Online

Just 30 percent of American voters have a positive perception of the Democratic Party, a new Quinnipiac University Poll found - the lowest in that survey's nearly 20-year history.

A majority of Americans, 54 percent, have an unfavorable view of the Democrats, who lost the presidential election last November and control neither house of Congress.

Another 10 percent said they haven't heard enough about the Democratic Party to respond.

The numbers represent a low water mark for the Democrats since Quinnipiac started gauging public opinion on political parties in 2008.

The previous low came in January, as Republican President Donald Trump was being inaugurated, when just 31 percent of voters had a favorable opinion of the Democrats and 57 percent did not.

The Republican Party, which controls the White House, House and Senate isn't overtly popular either - with 38 percent of voters holding a favorable opinion and 51 percent expressing discontent.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - a Democrat-turned-independent who embraced the MAGA movement last August to help President Donald Trump win the election - is also suffering from low marks.

Just one third of voters, 33 percent, approve of the way Kennedy is handling the top health Cabinet post.

Fifty-four percent disapprove of the job RFK Jr. has done.

Another 13 percent did not offer an opinion.

Kennedy's numbers have slipped since Quinnipiac's survey in June.

At that point, about six months into the Trump administration, 38 percent approved of the job the HHS secretary was doing, while 53 percent disapproved and 9 percent did not offer an opinion.

Just 17 percent of voters said they were very confident in the medical information cited by Kennedy.

Another 22 percent said they were somewhat confident.

Forty-six percent said they were not confident at all in the information Kennedy was doling out, while 11 percent answered not so confident.

Kennedy was a prominent vaccine skeptic even before joining the Trump administration.

The polling shows that a solid majority - 67 percent to 26 percent - of voters believe there should be vaccine requirements for children to attend public schools.

However support for these types of mandates has lost support among Republicans.

While 91 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of independents supported children having vaccine requirements for public school, just 44 percent of Republicans shared that view.

Another 46 percent opposed vaccine mandates.

'Keep mandatory vaccines in place for public school kids, say a large majority of voters. That sentiment is expressed as voters give a clear thumbs down to the overall recommendations by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,' noted Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.

Quinnipiac's latest survey was conducted among 1,276 registered voters from September 18 through 21 and had a plus or minus 3.3 percent margin of error.