Americans hold more favorable views of Republicans than Democrats, even as favorability remains grim across the board, according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll.
In the survey, released Wednesday, Republicans in Congress have a net negative 13 favorability — with 39 percent viewing them favorably and 52 percent unfavorably.
Congressional Democrats, meanwhile, perform twice as poorly, with a net negative 29 favorability rating, including 31 percent who view them favorably and 60 percent who view them unfavorably.
Results are similar when asked about political parties generally. The Republican Party’s net favorability rating is negative 11, with 41 percent viewing them favorably and 52 percent unfavorably. The Democratic Party’s net favorability rating is negative 28, with 32 percent viewing them favorably and 60 percent unfavorably.
The discrepancy seems, at least in part, driven by the views of the respondents’ own party. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents, 70 percent view their party favorably and 66 percent view Democrats in Congress favorably.
By contrast, among Republicans and GOP-leaning respondents, 87 percent have a favorable view of their party and 82 percent have a favorable view of Republicans in their party.
That dynamic is reflected in respondents’ views about how united each party is. Americans are more than twice as likely to say the Democratic party is more divided, at 51 percent, than united, at 23 percent. But they say the opposite about Republicans, with 52 percent saying the GOP is more united and 23 percent saying it’s more divided.
The poll was conducted from March 30 through April 1 and included 1,626 respondents. The margin of error is 3.3 percentage points.
