With President Trump’s low approval ratings, do Democrats have a chance of winning the midterm elections?
A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS and released Sunday shows that Democrats are clearly motivated ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, despite having mixed feelings about the party’s leadership. Roughly a year into Trump’s second term, his approval ratings remain underwater.
Eighty percent of Democrats say they are very or very motivated to vote in this year’s election, while 74% of Republicans say the same. Overall, 71% of voters said they were very or very motivated to vote.
The poll found that when voters were asked which party they would support if the midterm elections were held today, the Democratic candidate leads the Republican Party by 5 percentage points. When asked about those who actively voted, CNN reported that the Democratic advantage over Republicans widened to 16 points.
Despite Democrats’ dominance of the popular vote, support for the party’s leadership remains low. Polls show that only 28% of voters support congressional Democratic leaders. By comparison, the poll found that 35% of voters support congressional Republican leaders.
The poll found that about three-quarters of Republicans approve of their party’s leadership in Congress, while only 48% of Democrats feel the same way. Independents in Congress are equally unfavorable to Democrats and Republicans, with about three-quarters of each party disapproving.
The poll also found voters were divided when asked whether the country would be “better off” or “worse off” if Democrats won control of Congress. Thirty-nine percent said the country would “get better,” 37% said it would “get worse,” and 24% said nothing would change.
The poll also asked voters about Trump’s impact on the Republican Party. Overall, half of voters said he had a bad influence, 32% said he had a good influence and 18% said he didn’t have much of an impact.
Among Republicans, 67% said Trump has had a good influence, 15% said he has had a bad influence, and 18% said he has not had much of an impact.
The poll was conducted among 1,209 adults between January 9 and 12. Its margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
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