0% of Democrats Happy with State of the US Right Now

Less than 1 percent of Democrats say they are satisfied with the direction of the country, according to a new Gallup poll.

Why It Matters

This is the lowest level of satisfaction among Democrats in at least 25 years, according to Gallup’s polling, and it comes at a time when Republican satisfaction is near record high levels.

The polling shows that Democrats’ satisfaction with the direction of the country quickly dropped after President Donald Trump, a Republican, returned to office in January, while GOP supporters’ satisfaction spiked.

What To Know

According to Gallup, 31 percent of Americans currently say they are satisfied with the direction of the country—down from 38 percent in May, which was the highest reading since Trump returned to office in January.

The survey found the split between Democrats and Republicans on this is its widest since 2001.

While 76 percent of Republicans say they are satisfied with the direction of the country, just 0.4 percent of Democrats said the same. The 76-point gap is the highest Gallup has ever recorded on the measure, though a 75-point gap was recorded in May and 74-point gaps in March and July.

Meanwhile, just 25 percent of independents say they are currently satisfied with the direction of the country.

Gallup’s polling found Republicans were essentially just as dissatisfied with the direction of the country in July last year as Democrats are today. However, the partisan gap at the time was 35 points because only 36 percent of Democrats were satisfied with the country’s direction at the time.

Meanwhile, Gallup also found just 40 percent of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president. There was a significant partisan gap: 93 percent of Republicans approve of Trump’s overall job performance, compared with just 1 percent of Democrats.

The Gallup result comes as Trump has directed Texas and other Republican-led states to take up mid-decade redistricting plans to make it easier for the GOP to preserve its slim House majority in the 2026 midterm elections, which often go against the sitting president’s party. California is holding a special election in November so voters can approve new maps, and other Democratic-run states are mulling map revisions too.

What People Are Saying

Robert Shapiro, a professor of government at Columbia University, told Newsweek: “Two things are at work. One is genuine Democratic dislike of what is happening in the economy regarding prices, tariffs, etc. and then all the opposition to what Trump has been doing.

“Second is partisan perceptual biases that lead Democrats to see things as worse than they are and Republicans better than they are. It is only good news for the Democrats if this mobilizes voters in 2026. The voters are not so happy with the Democratic Party and its leaders.”

Costas Panagopoulos, a professor of political science at Northeastern University, told Newsweek: “This is merely a manifestation of the extremely high level of partisan polarization in the country at this time.

“Americans’ outlooks on the state of the nation reflects their partisan orientations. Given that the GOP controls the federal government right now, Republicans are generally pleased, while Democrats, in the minority with few power levers to push, possess bleak views about the direction of the country.”

Grant Davis Reeher, a professor of political science at Syracuse University, told Newsweek that if the latest poll “reflects an increase in frustration that takes the form of anger, it could be an energizing factor in 2026 regarding turnout, volunteering, donating, etc., which would be a good thing for Democrats.

“But if it reflects alienation among Democrats, which can lead to resignation and political quiescence—which is different from acceptance—then it could spell trouble for those same election-related factors. I would imagine that it reflects a combination of both, and the question then becomes which one is predominant.”

He added: “Democrats are not happy, generally, with their leadership at the moment, and that does not bode well. But they are really angry. I still expect Republicans to lose control of the House, mostly because of history and the fact that their numerical majority is so razor-thin.”

D. Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky, told Newsweek that voter satisfaction “closely follows partisan lines, sinking when respondents dislike the president and spiking when they do. That’s not just because they like the policies of one president and not the other, which naturally would cause satisfaction with the national government to change.

“Even satisfaction with the economy is partisan, with Republicans and Democrats flipping their assessments as soon as the presidency changes hands, despite the country’s economic performance not having altered at all.”

Voss said that Democratic voters “are especially cranky now, because they are frustrated not only with the dramatic shift in policies that the GOP has been enacting, but also with the inability of their own party leaders to stop those policy shifts.

“Voters more to the left are furious that their leadership cannot or will not fight harder, while even moderate Democrats who usually can tolerate Republican leadership are reacting negatively to the aggressiveness of Trump’s new administration.”

What’s Next

Trump’s approval rating remains underwater, according to several recent polls.

While the president is hoping mid-decade redistricting will help preserve the GOP’s control of Congress, the incumbent president’s party normally loses seats during midterms.

The midterm elections will be held on November 3, 2026.