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Author and political analyst Mark Halperin said Tuesday Democrats are worried about the 2028 election after seeing record-low approval ratings.
Since President Donald Trump’s re-election, the Democratic Party has been looking to the 2026 midterm election, where the party out of power typically over-performs, as a political comeback. Though Halperin agreed that Democrats have a chance to do well in 2026, he said they are concerned about their prospects in the next presidential cycle.
“The Democrats I talked to are far less worried about 2026 in the midterms because this history suggests that even weak, the party could still do well enough to take back the House. What they’re worried about is 2028,” the “Next Up” podcast host said.
Halperin continued, “What they’re worried about is the capacity of the party to redefine itself and to win back voters they’ll need to win the White House, particularly because they are a party right now without strong candidates. The Democratic brand, on its own right now, it appears to be on the wrong side of both the polling and of the history. And that’s a big problem.”
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Mark Halperin said that Democrats are concerned about their prospects in 2028. (Kevin Dietsch)
Several recent polls have shown the Democratic Party with both record-low approval ratings and record-high disapproval ratings.
A CNN poll conducted July 10-13 and released earlier this month found just 28% of Americans viewed the party favorably. This was the lowest mark for Democrats in the entire history of CNN polling.
A Wall Street Journal survey released on Friday found a whopping 63% of respondents holding an unfavorable opinion of the Democrats, the highest recorded unfavorable rating for the party by the WSJ in 35 years.
Halperin blamed the party’s insistence on being against Trump on every single issue, including popular measures such as securing the border.
“The Democrats simply accentuate the downsides of these achievements,” Halperin said. “They find and highlight the weak links, and there are weak links, rather than grappling with what’s actually happening that I think is more important. That the trends in this country in terms of public opinion have fueled Trump’s rise and capacity to get stuff done. Trump has understood where public opinion was on these issues and others, and the Democratic Party has been and largely remains clueless.”
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Halperin blamed the party’s obsession with opposing Trump at every turn. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
He added that Democrats now seemed unwilling to confront the activist wing in their party and “lack the creativity and self-awareness” to truly address where they went wrong.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Democratic National Committee for comment.
Though several Democratic figures have emerged as potential candidates to run in 2028, there has yet to be a clear frontrunner.
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