With the Memorial Day recess coming to an end and the fights resuming in Washington, Democratic Party leaders are calling for more aggressive tactics to confront the Trump administration. The new urgency could be coming from a lack of change in Democrats’ political standing, as new polling shows voters view the party as weak and ineffective. 

Over the weekend, at two unofficial 2028 presidential primary events in South Carolina, Governor Walz and the governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, both spoke to a crowd of Democrats who will now likely host the first primary in the nation.  

The governors said Democrats have not done enough to win voters’ trust, which explains why President Trump is now sitting in the White House. At the state party’s annual convention, Mr. Walz went so far as to say that his party needs to get “meaner.”

“Maybe it’s time for us to be a little meaner. Maybe it’s time for us to be a little more fierce because we have to ferociously push back on this,” the former vice presidential nominee said, according to a livestream of the event by the state party. He likened Mr. Trump to a young bully that teachers see in classrooms every day. 

“When it’s an adult like Donald Trump, you bully the sh–t out of him back, you push back,” he said. “At heart, this is a weak, cruel man.”

Mr. Moore spoke at Congressman Jim Clyburn’s annual fish fry — a major draw for potential presidential candidates — to say that the Democrats have been lost before, but it takes work to get out of the kind of hole they’re in now. Speaking to reporters after the event, the Maryland governor insisted he won’t be running for president, though he wants to see his party get serious in order to beat back against Mr. Trump. 

“I’ve been very clear that, first, I know I’m not running, but the thing I’m also very clear about is that anyone who’s talking about 2028 is not taking 2025 very seriously. We are watching direct assaults on our communities, direct assaults on our neighbors, direct assaults on our legacies — that’s happening right now,” he said. 

Members of Congress will have the most responsibility on their shoulders as lawmakers return to Washington this week for another work period. The problem, however, is that despite all the protests and rallies and special election victories, voters still overwhelmingly see the Democrats as a weak, ineffective party. 

According to a poll released Sunday by CNN and SSRS research, only 16 percent of Americans say that the Democratic Party represents strong leadership for the country, while 40 percent said the same for the GOP. Those same voters said Mr. Trump’s party represents change to the status quo, with 32 percent saying Republicans represent that change. Only 25 percent said the same of Democrats. 

Voters similarly view that Republican Party as the party of action. Just 19 percent of Americans say Democrats are able to “get things done” while 36 percent said that of the GOP. 

The head of House Democrats’ messaging and policy arm, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that Mr. Trump has done nothing to actually help people with the cost of living since he returned to power, something she says her party needs to capitalize on. She famously warned before the 2016 election that Democrats were about to lose her home state of Michigan because voters felt the party hadn’t delivered for them. 

“Democrats have to stop being against Donald Trump and start being for something. We’ve gotta lay out our agenda for what we’re gonna do. We need our Project 2028,” she said, referring to the Heritage Foundation’s famous Project 2025 that was pilloried by Democrats last year. 

“We had lost union halls eight years ago. We need to understand what working men and women wanna talk about, which is economics, job security, how much food costs, [and] what the cost of living is every single day,” Ms. Dingell said. 

“I think we’ve had a wakeup call and we’re working now,” she added.