A new YouGov survey finds that Americans are more likely to have unfavorable opinions of both the Democratic and Republican parties than favorable ones. One of the major problems Americans see with members of both parties is the tolerance of political violence: 44% say this is a major problem among members of the Republican Party, and 40% say the same about members of the Democratic Party.
Americans are more likely to have very or somewhat unfavorable opinions of both the Democratic (54%) and Republican (55%) parties than favorable ones (39% for both). Among Democrats, 86% have a favorable opinion of their party, including 44% who have a very favorable view. 11% of Democrats have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party. Among Republicans, 86% have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party — including 52% very favorable — and 13% have an unfavorable opinion.
Women are more likely than men to have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party (42% vs. 36%). (Women are also more likely than men to disapprove of Donald Trump's handling of the presidency and to intend to vote for a Democrat in House elections later this year.)
What do Americans see as the biggest problems among members of the Democratic Party, of 23 potential problems asked about on the survey? 40% think tolerance of political violence is a major problem among members of the Democratic Party. Slightly fewer say wokeness (37%), elitism (36%), transgender ideology (34%), gender ideology (33%), and communism (32%) are major problems in the party.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say all 23 of the potential problems are major ones among members of the Democratic Party. Republicans are especially likely to say that wokeness (65%), transgender ideology (62%), gender ideology (62%), tolerance of political violence (60%), and anti-Christian bias (59%) are major problems among members of the Democratic Party.
The problems that Democrats are most likely to see as a major problem among members of their Party are tolerance of political violence (24%), white supremacy (23%), and elitism (19%).
Men are more likely than women to say that among members of the Democratic Party, anti-white bias (39% vs. 23%), anti-men bias (34% vs. 20%), and elitism (42% vs. 31%) are major problems.
Republican men are more likely than Republican women to say that anti-men bias (57% vs. 39%) and elitism (59% vs. 49%) are major problems among members of the Democratic Party.
Democratic men are more likely than Democratic women to say elitism (29% vs. 12%), anti-white bias (22% vs. 7%), and fascism (24% vs. 10%) are major problems among members of the Democratic Party.
The problems Americans are most likely to describe as a major problem among members of the Republican Party are hostility towards immigrants (47%), transphobia (44%), tolerance of political violence (44%), and conspiracy thinking (44%).
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say all 23 of the potential problems are major ones among members of the Republican Party. Among Democrats, vast majorities say hostility towards immigrants (82%), transphobia (81%), homophobia (75%), and white supremacy (75%) are major problems among members of the Republican Party.
The issues that Republicans are most likely to see as major problems among their party are tolerance of political violence (21%), wokeness (21%), transgender ideology (21%), and communism (18%).
Women are more likely than men to say misogyny (44% vs. 30%), transphobia (50% vs. 38%), Islamophobia (45% vs. 33%), and transgender ideology (45% vs. 33%) are major problems among members of the Republican Party.
Democratic women are more likely than Democratic men to say white supremacy (82% vs. 64%), misogyny (69% vs. 54%), and gender ideology (64% vs. 50%) are major problems among members of the Republican Party.
Related:
- More Americans say the Democratic Party does a better job helping families than say the Republican Party does
- How do Democrats and Republicans want their parties to change their approach?
- Americans trust the Democratic Party more on health care and Republicans more on immigration
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted on December 30, 2025 - January 1, 2026 among 1,107 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 percentage points.
Image: Getty
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