What Democrats Think When They Think of the ‘Democratic Party’
Hint: It’s not good.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty
I am a big believer in word associations.
As in, when I say “Chick-Fil-A,” what one word comes to mind? For me it’s “delicious.” Or “consistent.” Or “polite.” All of those words are positive, which is why, I suspect, Chick-Fil-A is the most successful fast-food chain in the country.
This works in politics, too. After all, the two major political parties are, effectively, brands. How people feel about them is critically important to whether they are willing to vote for their candidates.
Which brings me to new polling by the Republican firm Echelon Insights for the newsletter site Puck. Echelon asked people to choose a single word that came to mind when they said “the Democratic party.” The results are fascinating—and depressing if you are a Democrat.
In the word cloud of one-word answers from the overall electorate, the three most commonly mentioned words were “Liberal,” “weak,” and “corrupt.”
Not good!
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But even more troubling for Democrats is the word cloud addressing what self-identified Democrats said about their own side of the aisle. The most common word? “Weak.”
That is brutal.
Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) and fellow Democrats wave as President Donald Trump address a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
And there’s more. On Thursday, the Associated Press released a new national poll. In it, just one in three Democrats said they felt “very” or even “somewhat” optimistic about the party’s future.
Compare that to a July 2024 AP poll when six in ten Democrats were “very” or “somewhat” optimistic. And to the 55 percent of Republicans who currently feel “very” or “somewhat” optimistic about the future of the GOP.
On a daily basis, I read stuff from all over the internet that ponders this basic question: Do Democrats needs a more liberal or a more conservative nominee to win the White House back in 2028?
But when sifting through these numbers, I kept thinking of my recent conversation with Democratic pollster Margie Omero, in which she said Democrats want—and need—a fighter. That it doesn’t matter if that person was a liberal or a moderate, but that they were willing to fight for the values and the people they represented.
I think these numbers—and these word clouds—prove Margie right.
Want more ball and strike calling—no matter what uniform the batter at the plate is wearing? Check out Chris Cillizza’s Substack and YouTube channel.
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