• Polling

Views of Democrats and Republicans in the House Battleground

Thursday, June 26, 2025 By Zoya Qadiri

Poll: Trump and Congressional Democrats and Republicans

TOPLINES | GRAPHS

This Navigator Research report covers the latest perceptions of President Trump and Congressional Democrats and Republicans in the House Battleground.

Trump remains underwater with intense disapproval

President Trump’s job approval numbers remain consistently negative. More than half of battleground constituents disapprove of his overall job performance — with a striking 49 percent strongly disapproving. His economic job rating is worse: net approval on the economy sits at net -7 points. Similarly, Trump’s approval is underwater among independent constituents with his overall approval net -5, and economic job rating net -6.

  • This is slightly better than the national landscape, where Americans disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the presidency by 13 points (42 percent approve – 55 percent disapprove) and an even greater share disapprove of his handling of the economy (41 percent approve – 57 percent disapprove).

 

Named Democrats in Congress are outperforming their Republican counterparts, but Democrats in Congress generally remain deeply unpopular.

In a cycle where party labels are viewed skeptically, named Democratic congressional members are maintaining the favor of their constituents. Congressional Democrats sit at net +7 favorability, net +5 job approval, and net +2 economic job rating. By contrast, named Republicans in Congress are slipping with net favorability dropping 3 points (now at net -6), net -6 job approval, and a notable net -8 economic job rating, falling from February.

Bar graph of polling data from Navigator Research. Title: Individual Members Are Viewed More Favorably Than The National Brands, With Only Democratic Members Being Viewed Net Positive
Bar graph of polling data from Navigator Research. Title: Battleground Constituents Give Democratic Members a 5-Point Net Positive Job Rating, While Republicans Are Underwater by 6 Points

However, both Republicans and Democrats in Congress at large remain deeply unpopular compared to named members. Republicans are underwater by 15 points, a 9 point difference from named Republican members (net -6). Democrats in Congress are 22 points underwater, a 29 point difference compared to named Democratic members (net +7).

Bar graph of polling data from Navigator Research. Title: Both Parties Are Significantly Less Popular Than Members,Though Democrats More So Than Republicans

Republicans Maintain Narrow Trust on the Economy and Inflation

Republicans in Congress continue to enjoy a modest trust advantage on several core economic issues, namely, handling the economy (41 percent trust Democrats – 46 percent trust Republicans) and fighting inflation (38 percent trust Democrats – 44 percent trust Republicans).

Democrats in Congress maintain a strong lead on issues that speak to economic fairness and protecting essential programs. Specifically, making the wealthy pay their fair share (45 percent trust Democrats – 31 percent trust Republicans), protecting Social Security (49 percent trust Democrats – 37 percent trust Republicans), and protecting Medicaid (52 percent trust Democrats – 34 percent trust Republicans).

Bar graph of polling data from Navigator Research. Title: Growing Share of Battleground Constituents Believe Republicans in Congress Are Prioritizing the Wrong Things

On other key measures, trust is a dead heat – including lowering costs for working families and looking out for “people like me.” A separation emerges on standing up to corporate special interests, where Democrats in Congress hold a 3 point advantage.

These mixed results show that while Republicans in Congress win the economic policy debate when the argument is on the economy in abstract, their Democratic counterparts win the debate when constituents think about who is protected, who is prioritized, and who is paying their fair share.

Bar graph of polling data from Navigator Research. Title: A Majority Feels Republicans Are Prioritizing Helping Other People Over Them, Including 52% of Independents

The Republican brand has a clear disconnect

Despite their edge on inflation, constituents broadly reject Republicans in Congress’ identity and direction. Across every tested personal attribute, Republicans in Congress are failing to connect:

  • Shares my values: net -16
  • Cares about people like me: net -16
  • Has the right priorities: net -17
  • Gets things done: net -22
  • Too conservative: net +13
  • Rubber stamp for Trump: net +30

The most remarkable number may be that 53 percent of battleground constituents say Republicans in Congress are more focused on helping other people than people like them, including 52 percent of independent constituents.

Bar graph of polling data from Navigator Research. Title: Constituents Do Not Believe Republicans in Congress Are Getting Things Done, Have the R ig ht Priorities, or Care About People Like Them

Despite Trump’s unpopularity, Republicans in Congress stand resilient, especially on the economy. Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress aren’t benefiting broadly — only named members are outperforming, highlighting the value of individual brands over party labels in today’s political environment.

Read More

Focus Group Report: Passive News Consumers

Polling report on the state of the country today, including what news is breaking through about the Trump administration and how respondents are assessing truth when consuming news.

Three years After the Overturning of Roe

Polling report on the latest perceptions of abortion rights three years following the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. 

Americans Continue to Disapprove of Trump and His Handling of the Economy

Polling report on perceptions of President Trump, his handling of the economy, and his tariff plan.

About The Study

Impact Research conducted public opinion surveys among a sample of 1,500 likely 2026 general election voters from May 28 – June 1 , 2025. The survey was conducted by text-to-web (100 percent). Respondents were verified against a voter file and special care was taken to ensure the demographic composition of our sample matched that of the 62 congressional districts included in the sample across a variety of demographic variables. The margin of error for the full sample at the 95 percent level Nationwide surveys of registered voters; Each wave represents approximately 1,000 interviews taken over the prior three-five days. of confidence is +/- 2.5 percentage points. The margin for error for subgroups varies and is higher.

Like the info here?

Get it directly in your inbox when new polls are released.

About Navigator

In a world where the news cycle is the length of a tweet, our leaders often lack the real-time public-sentiment analysis to shape the best approaches to talking about the issues that matter the most. Navigator is designed to act as a consistent, flexible, responsive tool to inform policy debates by conducting research and reliable guidance to inform allies, elected leaders, and the press. Navigator is a project led by pollsters from Global Strategy Group and GBAO along with an advisory committee, including: Andrea Purse, progressive strategist; Arkadi Gerney, The Hub Project; Joel Payne, The Hub Project; Christina Reynolds, EMILY’s List; Delvone Michael, Working Families; Felicia Wong, Roosevelt Institute; Mike Podhorzer, AFL-CIO; Jesse Ferguson, progressive strategist; Navin Nayak, Center for American Progress Action Fund; Stephanie Valencia, EquisLabs; and Melanie Newman, Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

For press inquiries contact: press@navigatorresearch.org