New Poll Puts Schumer Barely Above Water With New York City Democrats

The Senate minority leader is seeing his popularity decline precipitously in the new Trump era.

AP/J. Scott Applewhite
Senator Schumer at the Capitol, November 28, 2023. AP/J. Scott Applewhite

As questions about competence arise from the Democratic Party’s base about their leadership, New York City Democrats say they do not have overwhelming confidence in Senator Schumer, according to a new poll. It comes as the Democratic Party as a whole reaches new lows in terms of popularity nationally. 

With President Biden stepping off the political stage, Mr. Schumer is now the most powerful Democrat in America. The kerfuffle over government funding earlier this year left Democrats deflated, and Mr. Schumer’s popularity among the base fell almost immediately. One of his Republican colleagues joked that he was about as popular as chlamydia. 

New polling released on Tuesday shows that the Senate minority leader even has problems in his hometown — not just across the country. 

According to a survey released by Data for Progress, Mr. Schumer has a net positive favorable rating of only seven points among Democrats living in the five boroughs. His fellow party members in the city only give him a 50 percent favorable rating, and a 43 percent unfavorable rating. 

The Democratic nominee for New York mayor, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, was largely propelled to his victory over Governor Cuomo last month thanks to younger, whiter, more educated communities in the city. It is those same groups that now have the most unfavorable view of the Senate Democratic leader. 

Younger voters especially have soured on the Brooklyn lawmaker, with just 32 percent of those under the age 45 holding a positive of Mr. Schumer. Among that same age cohort, 59 percent hold a negative view. White voters have a deeply unfavorable view of the senator, with 39 percent giving him positive marks and 59 percent giving him negative reviews. 

Mr. Schumer is strongest with older voters, Black New Yorkers, and those without a college degree. Among those aged 45 or older, 62 percent have a favorable perception of him. Black voters give him a 67 percent positive rating. New Yorkers without a college degree have a favorable view of him to the tune of 58 percent. 

Other Democrats, however, get higher ratings from those who responded to the Data for Progress poll. Senator Sanders — even though he is not technically a Democrat — gets the highest favorable rating from New Yorkers. He has a net favorable of 62 points, followed closely by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who gets a net positive rating of 60 points. 

The city’s comptroller, Brad Lander, has a net positive rating of 50 points and Mr. Mamdani has a net favorable rating of 42 points. 

Mr. Schumer’s dismal approval rating among his own neighbors comes as his party suffers from historically low approval ratings nationwide. A new poll from the Wall Street Journal over the weekend shows that the party, reeling from its defeat last year, has its lowest favorable ratings since before President Clinton moved into the White House more than three decades ago. 

The Republican Party is no powerhouse, according to the Journal poll, with a net negative approval rating of 11 points. The Democrats, however, fare far worse, with a net negative rating of 30 points. 

“The Democratic brand is so bad that they don’t have the credibility to be a critic of Trump or the Republican Party,” a Democratic pollster, John Anzalone, told the Journal. Mr. Anzalone conducted the survey along with President Trump’s own pollster, Tony Fabrizio. 

“Until they reconnect with real voters and working people on who they’re for and what their economic message is, they’re going to have problems,” Mr. Anzalone said.


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