A Damaged GOP Brand

In the mid-December CBS News poll, 51 percent of respondents had a favorable view of the Democratic Party and 41 percent had an unfavorable view. Only 31 percent had a favorable view of the GOP, with 60 percent having an unfavorable view. In the poll, 87 percent of Democrats had a favorable view of their party. Sixty-three percent of Republicans had a positive view of theirs. These findings echo those of other polls. In the latest Pew Research Center poll, feelings about the Democratic Party were divided 48 percent favorable to 47 percent unfavorable. But views about the Republican Party were decidedly negative, at 59 percent unfavorable and 36 percent  favorable. In this poll, the GOP’s rating was nearly as low as it has been at any point in the past two decades of Pew surveys. In the survey, 27 percent had a favorable view of Republican leaders in Congress. Forty percent had a favorable view of congressional Democratic leaders.

Source: Pew Research Center, December 2012.