Democrats’ Midterm Strength Masks Fierce Divides and Frustration, Poll Shows

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Democratic voters are in a combative, anti-establishment mood, unhappy with their party and disagreeing about its best path forward, a New York Times/Siena poll found.

The Democratic Party is entering the midterm elections with the political winds at its back but a fiercely dissatisfied and divided voter base that is trying to steer the party in wildly divergent directions, a New York Times/Siena poll found.

More than half of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents expressed frustration with the party, despite the fact that Democrats appear well positioned to take the House and compete for the Senate in November. Registered voters favored Democratic candidates over Republicans by 10 percentage points, a sizable margin less than six months out from the midterms.

But beneath that strong showing, unhappiness spanned almost every part of the party’s coalition — including young, white, Black and college-educated voters — and was especially strong among Democrats least attached to the party, who are the most likely to swing elections.

“Nothing seems to work,” said Raymond Gretz, 57, of Naples, Fla., who said he wanted to see his party push back more vigorously on President Trump. “I’m frustrated that they’re not doing more, but everything they do seems to fail. It’s kind of unbelievable.”

The poll captured a combative, anti-establishment mood within the Democratic Party that appears to be reaching a boiling point. And there were abundant signs of a fractured coalition with at times contradictory views about the party’s best path forward.


Based on a New York Times/Siena poll of 1,507 registered voters nationwide conducted May 11 to 15. The gray segment is for voters who did not respond or said they didn’t know. Respondents were identified as potential Democratic supporters if they identified as Democrats or as independents who leaned toward Democrats, including non-leaning independents who said they had voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 or planned to vote Democratic in 2026. Poll wording has been condensed.

Christine Zhang/The New York Times


Based on a New York Times/Siena poll of 1,507 registered voters nationwide conducted May 11 to 15. The gray segment is for voters who did not respond or said they didn’t know. Respondents were identified as potential Democratic supporters if they identified as Democrats or as independents who leaned toward Democrats, including non-leaning independents who said they had voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 or planned to vote Democratic in 2026. Poll wording has been condensed.

Karl Russell/The New York Times


Here are the key things to know about this New York Times/Siena poll:

  • The survey was conducted among 1,507 registered voters nationwide from May 11 to 15, 2026. Of those, 784 respondents were identified as potential Democratic supporters if they identified as Democrats or as independents who leaned toward the Democratic Party. Respondents who did not lean toward a party were included if they said they had voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 or planned to vote for a Democrat in 2026.

  • This poll was conducted in English and Spanish, by telephone using live interviewers. Overall, 99 percent of respondents were contacted on their cellphone. You can see the full results and exact questions that were asked among all voters and potential Democratic supporters.

  • Voters are selected for the survey from a list of registered voters. The list contains information on the demographic characteristics of every registered voter, allowing us to make sure we reach the right number of voters of each party, race and region. For this poll, interviewers placed nearly 260,000 calls to more than 97,000 voters.

  • To further ensure that the results reflect the entire voting population, not just those willing to take a poll, we give more weight to respondents from demographic groups that are underrepresented among survey respondents, like people without a college degree. You can see more information about the characteristics of respondents and the weighted sample at the bottom of the results and methodology page, under “Composition of the Sample.”

  • The margin of sampling error among registered voters is about plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. In theory, this means that the results should reflect the views of the overall population most of the time, though many other challenges create additional sources of error.

    • You can see full results and a detailed methodology among all voters and potential Democratic supporters. If you want to read more about how and why we conduct our polls, you can see answers to frequently asked questions and submit your own questions here.