New Trump polling shows what Dem voters really want -- and why Gavin Newsom has it all wrong

[Jilly_in_VA]

Despite President Donald Trump’s attempts to spin his first 100 days as a shining success, he is more unpopular today than at any point in his first term, when his ratings were notoriously dismal. A batch of new polls released this week suggests Trump may be in even more political trouble than Republicans initially feared.

Only 37% of voters approve of how Trump has handled the economy, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos survey. Worse still, Reuters/Ipsos found that a majority of Americans oppose Trump’s handling of immigration, his signature issue. Trump’s growing unpopularity is fueling a wave of Democratic overperformance in recent special elections. Even Trump-aligned pollster Rasmussen Reports found Democrats now enjoy a 4-point lead in the generic congressional ballot.

None of those gains seem to matter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who spent the week bashing the Democratic Party as a directionless mess that should work harder to meet MAGA extremists halfway.

“I don’t know what the party is,” Newsom told The Hill on Monday. “I’m still struggling with that.”

Newsom’s pessimism about Democrats’ future isn’t new, but it is consistently misguided. The governor clearly wants to position himself as a politician willing to speak tough truths to the party ahead of his presumed 2028 presidential campaign. That’s great! Democrats certainly need to have honest conversations about where we struggled in 2024. But those conversations should be based on data and discussions with our voters — not on Newsom’s chats with MAGA influencers like Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk.

That’s especially true when Newsom’s so-called strategy required Democrats to bash the transgender community and write off Trump’s illegal deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had protected status to reside in the U.S., as a “distraction” from “real” issues. Newsom seems to think that Democrats can only win in 2026 and 2028 if they abandon the justice principles that are the foundation of our party. The polls say otherwise.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-gavin-newsom-poll-democrat-voters-rcna202810

If he "doesn't know what this partu is", he should either shut up and listen harder, or leave it.

[senseandsensibility]

1. Newsom is great in a lot of ways

but reading the mood of the base appears to be beyond him. Either that or he has his own motives for doing this which escape me. Either way, I am a former fan of his who would never support him for President now. He's really blowing it.

[progressoid]

3. IMHO he's trying to find that nebulous middle ground of

Independents, disgruntled Democrats, and never Trumpers.

Or maybe he just likes to be in the lime light.

[mwmisses4289]

2. hhhmmm....is the shine starting to wear off Mr. Newsome?

[walkingman]

4. A politician will always be a politician....he has the looks, talks smoothly and I think would

be a viable contender for POTUS. I'm personally turned off by him when I see that he was married to Kimberly Guilfoyle. Just not my genre of people.

I personally am more attracted to a progressive candidate.

I hardly recognize America these days. Pretty much everyone looks like a conman to me. I think America is all about money, How much do you fucking need?

[Omnipresent]

5. I hope someone gets it right in 2028.

Larger crowd sizes and a billion dollars in raised funds certainly didn’t help win a single swing state!

[yourout]

6. Triangulation 2.0....

Find the squishy middle..
And lose spectacularly.

[bob4460]

7. The Democratic party needs to go back to their roots.

Raise the minimum wage, healthcare for all, secure social security,protect peoples rights through codifying laws like civil rights and abortion, legalize pot.You know what we used to think about the Democratic party!

[W_HAMILTON]

8. Those are all things Democrats have done recently/tried to do recently/support.

[Ping Tung]

9. As a registered Democrat since 1965 I looked for common human decency, compassion, and intelligence in candidates.

Alas, getting all of the above, is seldom the case. Jimmy Carter was am exception.

"Getting into politics is like stepping in dog shit." Che Guevara

[Emile]

10. He's late for jail. Impeach, remove and send him

to El Salvador.

[ananda]

11. Newsom has been a huge post-election disappoinment!

AOC and Sanders, however, have been great!

And of course, Al Green and some others.

[Wiz Imp]

12. "he is more unpopular today than at any point in his first term"

Last edited Thu Apr 24, 2025, 06:57 PM - Edit history (1)

This is false. In his first term, Trump hit a low of 37% (average across pollsters) with a disapproval rate of 58% - a net -21%. The worst poll for Trump so far was the Pew poll recently released which showed Trump at 40%/59% for a net -19%. So the unfavorable score from this Pew poll was higher than the overall average at any point in the first term, but the net rating still was worse at his worst point in Term 1. And of course, the Pew poll was a single poll. The next worst net numbers for Trump so far this year has been -13%. And the overall average right now is still only about --7%.

Trump's polls have been sinking pretty quickly of late, and I have no doubt that within the next couple months his overall ratings fall to a lower level than at any point in his first term, but he's not there yet.