Report: As Trump Returns to Office, Both Democrats and Republicans Disliked

The February 2025 Daily Kos/Civiqs Poll asked 1,113 registered voters in the United States about their opinions of the Democratic and Republican Parties, President Trump’s executive orders and policy proposals, and perspectives on current events.

Both Parties Viewed Unfavorably

The Democratic and Republican Parties both begin 2025 with net-negative favorable ratings among a majority of Americans. The Republican Party is viewed unfavorably by 56% of voters, with only 38% having a favorable opinion of Republicans. The image of the Democratic Party is even worse, with 33% favorable and 60% unfavorable.

Both results are consistent with Civiqs’ daily tracking, which shows the Democratic Party at 58% unfavorable and the Republican Party at 55% unfavorable. The Democratic Party’s unfavorable rating is currently the highest it has been in ten years of Civiqs surveys.

The biggest problem for Democrats is that their own voters have a relatively poor view of their performance. Among Democratic voters in today’s survey, 71% view the Democratic Party favorably, with 40% strongly favorable and 31% somewhat favorable. Younger Democrats have the lowest opinion of their party: Only 58% of Democrats aged 18-34 have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, with 30% unfavorable.

In contrast, views of the Republican Party are more positive among Republican voters. Fully 83% of Republican voters view the Republican Party favorably, with 45% strongly favorable and 38% somewhat favorable.

The Second Trump Administration

Voters’ response to President Trump’s executive orders and policy pronouncements at the start of his second term in office are entirely politically polarized. Democrats are nearly unified in opposition, while Republicans enthusiastically support Trump’s actions.

Overall, 95% of Republicans support Trump’s executive orders (83% strongly support); 97% support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducting raids in major U.S. cities, and 85% support Trump pardoning people convicted for their role in attacking the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. There is also 77% support among Republicans for ending birthright citizenship, and 68% support for eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Democrats are strongly opposed to all of these actions.

In response to Trump’s aggressive policy actions, Republican voters say they are much more interested in what is happening in U.S. politics right now, compared to how they usually feel. While a majority of Republicans (58%) say they are currently more interested in politics, an even larger proportion of frequent Fox New viewers – 68% – say the same.

Reactions to Current Events

Despite President Trump’s campaign promise to bring down food prices on day one of his administration, nearly 8 in 10 voters (77%) are dissatisfied with the price they are paying for eggs. This dissatisfaction is consistent across the political spectrum, and includes 76% of Democrats, 77% of Republicans, and 79% of Independents. 

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have been an early target of the Trump administration. Voters are divided on the issue: 46% think DEI initiatives are a bad thing, while 43% think they are good. Americans today feel more positively about DEI initiatives than they did in a July 2024 Daily Kos/Civiqs survey, which found that 41% thought DEI was bad and just 30% thought it was good.

Voters lean towards giving Trump more credit than former president Joe Biden for the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. A plurality (43%) think Donald Trump is more responsible for the ceasefire agreement, compared to 33% who think Biden is more responsible.

If TikTok is shut down, slightly more Americans say that Trump will be more responsible than Biden: 27% say Trump, 15% say Biden, 14% say both equally, 24% say neither Trump nor Biden, and 20% are unsure.

In an Inauguration Day speech on January 20, 2025, Elon Musk made a controversial arm gesture that many described as a Nazi salute. By a margin of 86% to 6%, Democrats say that the gesture was a Nazi salute. Republicans overwhelmingly disagree, with 87% saying it was not a Nazi salute, and only 3% of Republicans saying it was.

Civiqs surveyed 1,113 registered voters in the United States from February 1-4, 2025. The survey was conducted online, among selected members of the Civiqs research panel. Sampled individuals were emailed by Civiqs and responded using a personalized link to the survey at civiqs.com. The survey results are weighted by age, race, gender, education, party identification, and region to be representative of the population of registered voters in the United States. The general design effect due to weighting is 1.10. The survey has a margin of error of ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect.