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Poll: Majority of Democrats want new party leadership

Tom Fontaine
| Friday, June 20, 2025 4:05 p.m.
Massoud Hossaini | TribLive
Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin speaks to reporters at an event in McKeesport on Feb. 18, 2025.

Nearly two out of three Democrats think their party needs new leadership, according to a poll released Thursday.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that 62% of Democrats surveyed agreed with the statement that “the leadership of the Democratic Party should be replaced with new people,” while 24% disagreed and 14% weren’t sure or didn’t answer.

Just 30% of Republicans surveyed said they thought their party leadership should change.

The poll showed a wide gap between what Democratic respondents’ care about and what they think their party leaders care about — especially among Democrats under 40. For example, 62% of the younger Democrats said they thought it was important to limit money in politics, but only 44% of them thought that was a priority for party leaders.

Many respondents said they felt Democratic party leaders aren’t focusing enough on economic issues and are placing too much emphasis on issues like transgender rights and electric vehicles.

The Democratic National Committee elected a new chairman, Ken Martin, in February.

In one of his first public appearances as the new chairman, Martin told an energized crowd in McKeesport that he was focused on helping Democrats win back lost working-class voters and hotly contesting every race, no matter how big or small the office might be.

He’s had some ups and downs.

Martin feuded with former DNC Vice Chairman David Hogg after Hogg called for the committee to raise money to support challengers of Democratic incumbents in upcoming primaries. Martin argued that it was important for officers to remain neutral in Democratic primary races.

Hogg left the DNC this month and vowed to raise millions of dollars through a political action committee to support primary challengers.

Also this month, two top labor leaders — Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — announced they were leaving the DNC after they weren’t reappointed to a powerful DNC committee.

Martin, however, said he’s been doing the job he was elected to do.

“Some people in D.C. just want to win an argument, but I’m focused on winning elections. That’s what I was elected to do,” Martin said in a statement.

He said Democrats have notched 32 wins or overperformances in races across the country this year.

“We have to cut through the noise and focus on what works – investing unprecedented dollars in state parties to win and build power locally; reaching voters on the ground in red districts with 130 town halls; sharpening our messaging and opposition tactics … and launching an organizing program earlier than the national committee has ever before to win in 2025, 2026, and beyond,” Martin said.

“The American people don’t care about Beltway chatter, and neither do I. They want to know that Democrats are fighting for them. Under my leadership, that’s what the DNC is doing,” he added.

The DNC said that it has raised nearly $40 million in the first four months of Martin’s tenure, nearly twice what it raised during the same period in 2017, when Democrats also were coming off a stinging loss in a presidential election.

“The DNC has just set a new record for most money raised in the first four months under a new chair — ever. … This is only the start, but it’s a record-setting start that allows Democrats to meaningfully invest in every part of the country,” Martin said.


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