More than half of Americans say the country’s best days are already behind it

By Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN

(CNN) — In politics today, negativity is a much easier sell than enthusiasm.

For the first time in nearly a decade of polling, more than half of Americans say the country’s best days are already behind it. Three-quarters think the country’s political system needs major reforms or a complete overhaul, according to CNN polling conducted by SSRS this summer.

The Democratic Party has rebounded slightly from the record-low favorability marks it hit earlier this year. The widespread feeling among Democrats that their own party needs to make major changes is outweighed by their anger toward President Donald Trump and the GOP.

That level of negativity hasn’t always been a part of politics, but in recent years it’s become fundamental to understanding where we are today. CNN’s poll finds that more than half of political independents are either dissatisfied with or indifferent to both political parties – but different blocs of independents hold notably different attitudes.

And within the parties, people are more vehement in their dislike of the opposition than in their enthusiasm for their own party. The Democratic Party last saw positive ratings from a solid majority of the country in February 2009, while the Republican Party last saw a favorability rating of 55% or higher in February 2005.

It’s been 23 years since Americans gave both parties ratings that were broadly positive at the same time.

What could this mean for next year’s elections?

When Americans are unhappy, it’s usually a bigger political problem for the party in charge.

Midterm elections often serve at least partially as a referendum on the current occupant of the White House. And right now, Americans are about twice as likely to say they’re angry than that they’re enthusiastic about the Trump administration’s policies.

While it’s far too early to know how next year’s election will shake out, in an initial test of possible midterm sentiment, Americans say by a 5-point margin that they’d rather see the Democrats than the Republicans in control of Congress after the midterm elections, or that they lean in that direction.

Asked how they’d feel if they were voting today, 39% of registered voters say they’d consider their ballot a message of opposition to Trump, while 28% say they’d consider it a message of support, with the rest saying it wouldn’t be a message either way.

Those numbers closely resemble the results of a poll taken just before the 2018 midterms in Trump’s first presidency when Democrats gained more than 40 seats to flip control of the US House.

But Democrats also face serious doubts about their effectiveness. Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to be seen as the party of strong leaders, and the party that gets things done, in part because most Democrats don’t think either is true of their own party.

By 15 points, Americans also see Republicans as closer to their own position on crime and policing, a topic that has increasingly become a central talking point for the Trump administration. On the economy – by far the highest-rated issue for Americans – and immigration, Republicans lead by 5 and 7 points, respectively, similar to numbers in polling this spring, but down from their double-digit advantages over the Democrats during points in President Joe Biden’s administration.

Democrats, meanwhile, are less likely than the Republicans to be viewed as too extreme – a shift from March, when there was little distance between the parties.

Meanwhile, when Americans are asked to choose whether the Democrats or the Republicans have the right priorities, the winner is clear: Neither. That’s the view of 42% of respondents, higher than either party.

The-CNN-Wire
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