A new YouGov survey explores how Democrats and Republicans feel about how much their party focuses on major issues. Large shares of both Democrats and Republicans think their party focuses too little on corruption. And among both Democrats and Republicans, many think their party focuses too much on transgender issues.
Americans are more likely to have an unfavorable opinion than a favorable one of the Democratic Party (53% vs. 41%). The same is true of the Republican Party (54% vs. 40%).
9% of Democrats have an unfavorable view of their party and 7% of Republicans say the same of the Republican Party.
Among Democrats and Independents who lean towards the Democratic Party, 54% say the Democratic Party focuses too little on corruption. About half (48%) think the party focuses too little on income inequality; smaller shares think the party focuses too little on guns (45%), inflation (42%), the economy (41%), and education (41%).
Smaller shares of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents feel the Democratic Party focuses too much on certain issues. 21% say the party focuses too much on transgender issues. 14% think the party focuses too much on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and 13% think it focuses too much on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Among Republicans and Independents who lean towards the Republican Party, 42% think the party focuses too little on corruption. 40% think it focuses too little on health care, 36% think it focuses too little on inflation, and 36% think it focuses too little on Social Security.
About one-quarter (24%) of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents think the Republican Party focuses too much on transgender issues. The same percentage (24%) think it focuses too much on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. About as many think the party focuses too much on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (21%), tariffs and trade (20%), and DEI (20%).
According to another recent YouGov poll, issues that Americans think the Democratic Party does a better job handling than the Republican Party include LGBTQ issues (49% say the Democratic Party is better at this vs. 22% who say the Republican Party), abortion (43% vs. 30%), health care (42% vs. 27%), and democracy (42% vs. 27%).
Which issues does the Republican Party handle better? More Americans say Republicans do a better job than Democrats than say the reverse about immigration (41% vs. 33%), crime (38% vs. 23%), and guns (37% vs. 30%).
Equal percentages say the Democratic Party (37%) and the Republican Party (37%) do a better job on tariffs and trade. The economy is another topic with closely divided opinion: 34% say the Republican Party does a better job and 33% say the Democratic Party does.
Compared to August 2024, Americans are now less likely to say the Republican Party does a better job handling inflation (33%, down from 42%) and the economy (34%, down from 43%). Americans are less likely now than they were in August 2024 to say the Democratic Party does a better job handling the Ukraine-Russia conflict (25%, down from 31%) and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (19%, down from 25%). (The August 2024 poll asked about 14 issues, compared to 27 in the more recent poll).
Majorities of Republicans think the Republican Party does a better job handling most of the issues asked about. The issues they’re most likely to say the Republican Party does a better job handling are immigration (84%), crime (78%), foreign policy (77%), and the economy (77%). The issues for which less than 50% of Republicans say their party handles them better are scientific research (49%, with 21% unsure) and artificial intelligence (44%, with 25% unsure).
Among Democrats, 89% say the Democratic Party does a better job handling democracy. Vast majorities of Democrats say their party does a better job handling civil rights (88%), the environment (86%), and abortion (86%). Less than 50% of Democrats say the Democratic Party is better at handling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (48%, with 24% unsure) and artificial intelligence (41%, with 29% unsure).
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
Related:
- What Americans think are major problems among members of the Democratic and Republican parties
- Americans trust the Democratic Party more on health care and Republicans more on immigration
- Negativity toward political parties and politicians is pervasive and especially sharp among Democrats
See the results for the December 19 - 22, 2025 poll and the December 23 - 26, 2025 poll
Methodology: The December 19 - 22, 2025 YouGov poll was conducted online among 1,107 U.S. adult citizens. The December 23 - 26, 2025 poll was conducted online among 1,081 U.S. adult citizens. For each poll, the margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 percentage points. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (32% Democratic, 31% Republican).
Image: Getty (Mike Kline)
