A new Gallup poll finds that 37% have a favorable view of the Republicans and just 39% like the Democrats. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to then deduce that an overwhelming majority of Americans don’t have a love affair with the two major political parties in the United States.
In fact, Gallup reports that this is first time in more than 20 years that neither party has achieved at least a 40% favorability rating from the public.
There was a brief honeymoon period when President Obama was re-elected almost two years ago, when a little over half (51%) said they had a favorable opinion of the Democrats, but it has gone down and stayed down ever since.
And as far as the Republicans are concerned, not even capturing both houses of Congress last fall made much of a difference; it peaked at 42% then plunged to where it is now.
There was a time when there was a wide gap between the two parties, with many more people liking Democrats than Republicans, but that difference has virtually disappeared and now both parties have the dubious distinction of being nearly identically disliked.
It’s pretty evenly split between men and women, with 38% of men and 37% of women liking the Republicans, with similar numbers for Democrats.
Gallup concludes that the low numbers for both parties is due to the perception that there is a constant tug-of-war between legislators of both parties and between the White House and Republicans, resulting in a feeling of frustration among Americans that not much getting done.
The news is a little better for President Obama: 49% have a favorable view of the president and the job he is doing, and that’s up 42% from last fall.
