May 14, 2025
Six out of 10 adults are pessimistic about the state of politics in the United States and many doubts the future of political parties and the system of choice of political leaders. The partisan differences occur with the more likely democrats than the Republicans to have pessimistic opinions of the state of politics and the way in which leaders are chosen.
Republicans are more optimistic about the future of their party than democrats on theirs. They are also more likely than democrats to have positive expectations on how the leaders of this country are selected and for the state of American policy.
Overall, the public has become less pessimistic about the state of policy and the leaders’ choice system. In July 202466% were pessimistic about the country’s state of policy. Now, 59% of the public is pessimistic. Forty percent are pessimistic about how the country’s leaders are chosen, compared to 47% last July.
Republicans have become a little more optimistic about the future of the Republican Party than last summer. In July 2024, 47% said they were optimistic about their party. Now, three months after the start of Donald Trump’s second term, 55% hope for the future of their party.
While half of the Republicans are pessimistic about the state of politics in the United States, which is down 73% last July. And they have become a little more optimistic about how our leaders are chosen as part of the country’s political system.
On the other hand, the Democrats have become more pessimistic about the future of their party, the state of the country’s policy and the process of the country to choose political leaders. Only 35% of Democrats say they are optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party, decreasingly 57% in the July 2024 survey.
About 7 out of 10 democrats are pessimistic about the state of policy in this country, against 60% last summer. And 55% of Democrats are pessimistic about how our leaders are chosen under our political system, against last summer when Joe Biden was still in the White House.
Republicans are about as favorable to their party as in September, before the elections. Although overwhelming Democrats have always had a favorable opinion on their party, there has been a drop since last September (85% against 70%).
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez visited Republican bastions last month. Sanders, the main senator of Vermont, is independent but caused Democrats for most of his career in the Congress. Seventy-five percent of the Democrats have a favorable opinion on him, putting his favorability slightly higher than the party as a whole. Almost as many Republicans have an unfavorable vision.
Fifty-five percent of democrats have a positive opinion on the representative Ocasio-Cortez in New York, compared to only 8% of Republicans.
Democrats have become less positive about Chuck Schumer, the head of the Senate minority. Last December, 56% of Democrats had a favorable opinion on Schumer. The opinion of him among the Democrats has decreased with only 35% of Democrats now holding a favorable opinion.
On the republican side, most Republicans have a favorable opinion from the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but the same number of democrats have a negative opinion. While almost half of the Republicans have a positive vision of Mike Johnson, the president of the Chamber, only 9% of the Democrats agree. Overall, 44% of adults do not know enough to have an opinion on the speaker.
Forty-four percent of Republicans have a favorable vision of the defense secretary Pete Hegseth. Six out of 10 democrats have an unfavorable opinion.
The national survey was carried out from May 1 to 5, 2025 using the Amerispeak® panel, the panel based on the probabilities of Norc at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using fixed lines and mobile phones were carried out with 1,175 adults. The overall margin of the sampling error is +/- 4.0 percentage points.