Democrats Barely Back Schumer as Most Americans Want Him Out
Schumer struggles with his own base, while independents deliver a brutal verdict on his future
Newly released polling from Emerson College suggests Americans are not particularly thrilled with Chuck Schumer being leader of the Senate Democrats, and would prefer to see him gone sooner rather than later.
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Overall, only 26% of Americans say they approve of Schumer’s job as Senate Minority, while an overwhelming majority (63%) say they disapprove of his job.
That narrows quite a bit among Democratic respondents, yet even among those voters, Schumer is left with a net negative approval of -1%, as 43% approve of the Senator and 44% disapprove of him within his own party.
That margin is even worse for Schumer among 2024 Harris voters, with 50% disapproving of his job handling and 39% approving, yet that is still better than independents, of whom 67% disapprove of Schumer and 18% approve.
Given how voters perceive Schumer’s handling of his job as Senate minority leader, it is unsurprising to learn that most Americans view him as a weak leader.
Among all voters, 51% say Schumer’s leadership of the party is weak, with 20% saying they are neutral, and only 20% saying he is a strong leader.
Once again, Democrats were the most likely to be positive of Schumer, and once again he is barely breaking even, with 36% saying he is a strong leader and another 36% saying he is weak.
Independents were less positive of Schumer, with 52% saying he is a weak leader and only 13% saying he is strong. At least 29% of 2024 Harris voters say he is a strong leader, though another 42% say he is weak.
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To that end, many voters want to see Schumer out as leader of the party in the Senate.
Among all Americans, 41% say that he should step down after the 2026 elections, while another 35% say that he should step down as leader immediately, with the remaining 24% saying he should stay on as leader.
He is not finding much more support among his own voters, with 41% of Democrats saying he should step down after 2026, and another 20% saying he should step down now. A larger share than those who want him out now, 39%, say he should stay on, but that is hardly a vote of confidence.
Among 2024 Harris voters, only 30% believe he should stay on, while the other 70% say he should either step down now or after the midterm elections. That margin is, naturally, worse among Independents, of whom only 17% believe Schumer should stay on as leader of the party in the Senate, while the remaining 83% say he needs to go either now or later.
Another question asked whether respondents believed Schumer was the best person to lead the party into the next election, with 58% of all voters saying no, and only 17% saying yes. Only 28% of Democratic respondents say he is the best choice to lead the party into the midterms.
And hey, Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries may be doing better than Schumer, but he is still not off the hook. His net approval among all voters sits at -16% and at -5% in New York, while enjoying a net approval of +29% among his own party nationally.
For context, Johnson’s net approval among Republicans sits at +49%, while Thune’s sits at +37%, which is to say Jeffries is still performing below average among his own voters compared to his Republican colleagues among their own.