Democrats hit their lowest favorable rating ever this month as Republicans are viewed more positively than their counterparts for the first time in a decade. Yet, voters would back the Democratic candidate over the Republican in their district if the 2026 congressional elections were held today.
The latest Fox News survey, released Friday, finds 44% have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, while 54% have an unfavorable view for a net rating of -10. For the Democratic Party, it’s 41-56%, for a -15 rating.
Results were reversed last summer, the most recent time Fox asked the question, when voters viewed Republicans negatively by 14 points and the Democrats by just 6 points.
The last time Republicans had a better favorable rating than the Democrats, albeit by 1 point, was in April 2014, when 45% viewed the GOP positively vs. 44% the Democrats.
The drop in positivity toward the Democrats comes from within. Last summer, 87% of self-identified Democrats approved of their party. Now, that’s down 10 points to 77%.
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Meanwhile, the Republican Party saw a slight improvement among their party faithful: 83% of self-identified Republicans had a favorable view in 2024 vs. 85% today.
“The higher favorable rating for the Republican Party is entirely due to Democrats feeling less favorable toward their party than Republicans do toward theirs,” says Democrat Chris Anderson, who conducts the Fox News surveys with Republican Daron Shaw. “This in and of itself is unlikely to translate into midterm success for the GOP, as Democrats say they will almost universally vote for their party and Independents favor the Democrats as well.”
If the midterm elections were today, voters would back the Democrat over the Republican candidate in their district by 7 points (49% vs. 42%), similar to the results in April 2017 during President Donald Trump’s first term (47% vs. 42%).
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The Democrats are ahead mostly due to stronger backing from their base and being preferred by Independents by a 2-to-1 margin (40% Dem to 18% GOP). They also have the backing of at least 6 in 10 Black voters (68%), voters under age 30 (60%), and women with a degree (59%).
Independents have negative views of both major parties but are more down on the Republicans (72% unfavorable) than the Democrats (66%). And while more back the Democratic candidate, a 41% plurality are unsure of what they’ll do in 2026.
Republicans’ strongest support comes from White evangelical Christians (66%), White men without a degree (54%), and rural voters (50%).
Another reason the GOP candidate is struggling is because of party loyalty: fewer Republicans (92%) and 2024 Trump supporters (86%) back the GOP candidate than Democrats (97%) and 2024 Harris supporters (91%) do theirs.
“The congressional ballot results aren’t surprising, as the out-party typically does well in the administration’s first midterms,” says Shaw. “Republicans did well in 2010 and 2022, while Democrats did well in 2018, and polls showed this was mostly because their partisans were more fired up. The key for the Republicans is either keeping some of the Democrats and independents that crossed over in 2024 for Trump or ginning up their base for an election where Trump isn’t on the ballot.”
The survey also asks voters how they felt about their 2024 vote choice and while 85% were satisfied overall, there has been a decline in satisfaction among Trump voters. Eighty-nine percent of those who supported Trump in 2024 remain satisfied with their choice, yet that’s down from 92% four years ago and 97% eight years ago. Among 2024 Harris supporters, 90% remain satisfied with their vote today.
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Young voters, especially those under age 30, have played a big role in the electorate over the last few cycles. The survey finds the GOP congressional candidate is underperforming what Trump got in the 2024 election among these young voters: Forty-seven percent backed Trump according to the Fox News Voter Analysis election survey in November vs. 33% backing the Republicans today.
Young voters also have a more favorable view of the Democratic Party by 2 points (50% favorable, 48% unfavorable), a reversal from last July, when they viewed them negatively by 6. Their views of the Republican Party remain negative by 20 points (38% favorable, 58% unfavorable today vs. 40-60% in July 2024).
“The bad news for the Republicans is the age gap is back in these data,” says Shaw. “The good news is this is the most volatile group in the electorate: they tend not to show up for midterm elections and, when they do, they are particularly responsive to short-term forces.”
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Conducted April 18-21, 2025, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,104 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (127) and cellphones (703) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (274). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics of respondents are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis and voter file data.