The Democratic Party‘s favorability has dipped across the board since the 2024 election, and a new survey shows its standing has dramatically slipped with younger voters in recent years.

The Harvard Youth Poll from the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, released Wednesday, shows that young people are not impressed with Democrats in Congress. Their support for congressional Democrats falls below that of congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump.

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In the survey, conducted with 2,096 18-to-29-year-olds last month, just 23% approved of the job congressional Democrats are doing, compared to 29% who approve of congressional Republicans’ job performance and 32% who approve of Trump’s job performance.

In Harvard’s 2017 and 2020 youth polls, congressional Democrats had significantly higher approval ratings than their GOP counterparts or Trump. In less than five years, their approval rating has dropped 25% among young people. Through the 2017, 2020, and 2025 polls, young people’s views on Republicans in Congress and Trump have remained stable, only fluctuating a couple of percentage points.

While Trump’s job performance rating, 31%, was nearly identical to 2017’s 32% and slightly up from 2020’s 29%, the demographic breakdown shifted. In the 2017 survey, Trump only had 6% approval from young black Americans, compared to 16% in the 2025 poll, while his rating with young white Americans dropped from 44% in 2017 to 39% in 2025.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY TROUBLES MOUNT AS MORE VOTERS TURN RIGHT, GIVE GOP EDGE

Trump and Republicans made gains with key Democratic strongholds in the 2024 election, including young voters, as he won the White House and became the first Republican since 2004 to win the popular vote. In 2020, Trump lost young voters 60% to 36%, but in 2024, he only lost the group 54% to 43%, according to CNN exit polls.

While Democrats have aimed to regain ground with these demographics, some have insisted that messaging is not the problem. In an appearance on MSNBC last week, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), an influential Democrat, deferred blame to the media for the party’s poor polling figures.