Democrats' Favorability Ratings Fall to a New Low

The Democratic Party's favorability ratings have dropped to its lowest point in 18 years, allowing Republicans to close the big gap that started opening just before the 2006 elections when the Democratics won the House, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted March 26-28

Gallup began doing this poll in 1992. The highest favorability score during that period was the 61 percent Republicans enjoyed in 2002 when the Bush administration was still riding high in the polls.

After that, the Democrats peaked at 55 percent in 2008 and their favorability ratings have now slid to 41 percent while that of the Republics, who bottomed out at 34 percent in 2009 has risen to 42 percent.

The Democrats have lost 10 points among independents since Sept. 2009, falling from 40 percent who saw the party favorably to 30 percent. The independents' favorable view of the Republicans has risen from 31 percent to 36 percent in that period.

A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted April 6-7 found 49 percent had an unfavorable view of the Democrats while 42 percent saw them favorably, with 8 percent expressing no opinion. That was little changed since February, but a marked turnaround when compared to last July when 50 percent saw the party favorably and 41 percent regarded it unfavorably, with 9 percent undecided.

Fox said 50 percent of voters saw the Republican Party unfavorable, while 40 percent looked upon it favorably, with 9 percent expressing no opinion. That was an uptick in the unfavorable-to-favorable numbers since February when the margin was only 46 percent to 42 percent with 11 percent expressing no opinion. Last July, 53 percent saw the Republicans unfavorably compared to 36 percent who saw them favorably, with 11 percent expressing no view.

Fifty-three percent have an unfavorable view of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while 29 percent look upon her favorably, 11 percent expressed no opinion and 7 percent never heard of her. While 85 percent of Republicans saw her unfavorably, only 54 percent of Democrats had a positive view of her. Independents saw her unfavorably by 60 percent to 22 percent, with 14 percent expressing no opinion and 3 percent undecided. Pelosi's unfavorable-to-favorable ratio has been pretty constant since last June.

The numbers for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader John Boehner have less value since majorities either had no opinion in their cases or never heard of them.

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