Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is as popular as Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party combined, according to a recent NBC poll.
The poll was conducted among 1000 adults — 750 of whom were interviewed via cell phone — between May 5-7 and May 9-10, and measured the favorability of nine individual political figures and institutions.
The new NBC News poll measured 9 different political figures and institutions.
The most unpopular — in terms of net fav/unfav? The Democratic Party https://t.co/oIDoPoqmyw pic.twitter.com/uGhMBFl0nA
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) May 16, 2022
From the highest net positive to the lowest, the rankings were as follows:
- Volodymyr Zelensky: 62 percent positive, 9 percent negative (+53)
- Disney: 33 percent positive, 30 percent negative (+3)
- Ron DeSantis: 28 percent positive, 26 percent negative (+2)
- The US Supreme Court: 36 percent positive, 35 percent negative (+1)
- The Republican Party: 35 percent positive, 46 percent negative (-11)
- Joe Biden: 37 percent positive, 51 percent negative (-14)
- Donald Trump: 36 percent positive, 51 percent negative (-16)
- Kamala Harris: 31 percent positive, 48 percent negative (-17)
- The Democratic Party: 31 percent positive, 50 percent negative (-19)
Both political parties received net negative marks, but the Democratic Party — with 31% viewing the party favorably and 50% viewing it unfavorably — was underwater by 19 percentage points. The Republican Party — 35% positive and 46% negative — was only underwater by 11 points. Those numbers alone, if they don’t improve considerably, could spell trouble for Democrats going into the fast-approaching midterm elections.
A higher ranking for the Republican Party as a whole (-11) than for Biden may also be cause for alarm among Democrats, as the November midterms are usually seen as a referendum on the sitting president, regardless of party.
And if one were to look as far ahead as 2024, a few other comparisons stand out. Among those who have either directly stated their plans to run 2024 (President Joe Biden) and those who are rumored to be considering a run (former President Donald Trump, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, and Vice President Kamala Harris — should Biden bow out), the numbers paint a very interesting picture.
DeSantis, with a plus two, is the only one of the four with his head above water in terms of favorability. President Biden is next (-14), followed closely by former President Trump (-16) and Vice President Harris (-17). The only politician or institution that ranked lower than Harris — on this list — was the Democratic Party as a whole.
The only other institutions to receive a net positive rating were Disney with a plus three (33% viewed the company favorably and 30% viewed it negatively) and the United States Supreme Court with a plus one (36% viewed the court positively and 35% viewed it negatively). It should be noted that the survey was conducted just one week after the leaked early decision draft was published by Politico, indicating that the court might be poised to overturn landmark abortion cases Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.