Analysis: Fetterman’s Polling Numbers Should Be a Warning For Democrats

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s polling numbers highlight the already failed strategy of trying to appeal to the political right

Immediately after Democrat losses in the 2024 election, many pundits and members of the consultant class flooded corporate media to condemn progressive policy ideas and argue that Democrats needed to shift more to the right. Their hypothesis focused on meeting conservatives in the middle while denouncing identity politics, speaking up for trans rights, and targeting women’s rights by suggesting voters should embrace pro-life Democratic candidates.

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The notion that people should vote against their values to support the status quo and overt corruption isn’t how a society solves problems; it’s how it normalizes them. At no point, not then and not now, on the heels of Charlie Kirk’s murder, have the punditry mentioned how racism and bigotry are now a permanent staple in conservative politics. Instead, the U.S. finds itself in an era where both parties are demanding that anyone who isn’t on the political right “tone it down,” as Republican leaders attempt to categorize rhetoric they don’t like as violent and terroristic.

Rather than address the blatant racial and cultural animus that is so prevalent on the right side of the political aisle, pundits and consultants continue to suggest that we should meet them in the middle. However, history tells us that this is a terrifying idea when considering that the Jim Crow era was created by compromising with racist conservatives, and the 13th Amendment, which simply added a qualifier to keep slavery alive, is yet another example of what meeting hate in the middle looks like.

Many of the more conservative Democrats that the consultant class has pitched to us fit these narratives. California Governor Gavin Newsom, who holds various bigoted views of the trans community and has shown a disdain for the homeless, among other issues, is the current guy. Before him, it was Pete Buttigieg, who had a problematic history with the Black community as Mayor of South Bend, Indiana. But in late January, they tried to pitch Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who shifted hard to the right on Israel, turned his back on the immigrant community he swore to protect, and constantly attacks Democrats.

While it’s too early to discuss presidential candidates for 2028, and with the 2026 midterms to contend with, Newsom remains popular for his trolling of President Donald Trump; the Buttigieg trial balloon seems to be losing some of its helium and Fetterman, who became the poster boy for shifting to the right to appease and attract conservatives, is spiraling downward in what could only be described as a perversion of Democratic politics.

The Numbers

In February, only 32% of Democrats “strongly backed” Fetterman, a 9-point drop from when he first took office. Six months later, in July, Newsweek reported that his approval rating had hit yet another record low (a 33-point decline since the end of 2024). His approval ratings among Republicans were trending upward during this time. Now, overall approval from Democrats continues to worsen, while 62% of Republican voters approve of his performance, according to a Quinnipiac poll. In January 2024, Fetterman enjoyed an 80% approval rating from Democrats, with only 16% from Republicans.

These numbers should alarm any pundits or consultants who believe Democrats should shift to the right and meet conservatives in the middle. The numbers show that trying to convince entire voting blocs to vote against their interests and values is much harder than simply listening to those voters and offering them solutions to their problems. What the poll numbers further tell us is that if you want to appeal to Republican voters, it’s best to just be a Republican, an issue President Harry Truman confronted in 1952.

“The people don’t want a phony Democrat. If it’s a choice between a genuine Republican and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat,” Truman said.

Fetterman recently declared to Fox Business that he wants to be an independent voice. He stated this after excoriating many Democrats earlier this year for ignoring his demands to be silent as they try to fight back against Trump’s oppressive agenda. Fetterman is also not fond of referring to the Republican Party’s appeasement of Trump’s authoritarian whims as Nazism or fascism. This, despite the commonalities between the Nazi Party and the White House’s white Christian nationalist agenda, something he has not spoken out on (despite using their bigotry against them to raise funds in 2021).

Although Fetterman likely knows that if he switches parties, he will lose, what he’s telling his constituents is that, rather than meet their needs, he would prefer to take his chances by being much more conservative than liberal and certainly more than the progressive he once claimed to be. Democratic Party leaders should take heed and acknowledge that this is not a path forward. Not only are voters’ concerns about shifting the party to the right valid, but the example Fetterman is creating will be the death of liberal and progressive politics.

Rather than appease the corporate donor class and the billionaires who have disenfranchised a growing number of voters, Democrats need to listen to their constituents, even when it comes to genocide. The arrogance over many issues in the last election, alongside the arrogance we see from party leaders like New York Senator Chuck Schumer and New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries, isn’t sitting well with voters, especially considering how much they’ve already stood down.

Many Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate have tried standing up to Trump, only to have party leadership go against them. Those who are standing up to Trump, such as New Mexico Representative Melanie Stansbury, Illinois Representative Delia Ramirez, Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett, and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among many others, are increasingly popular with voters. Those who admonish them are not.

So what then is the punditry and consultant class going to do? Will Democrats continue to put their big money donors, like AIPAC and the billionaire class, ahead of their voters as they have for the last two decades? Or will they finally wake up to the idea that their arrogance toward their constituents is arguably one of the biggest reasons they’re struggling with younger voters?

One thing is certain: the Fetterman way is dead on arrival.

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I’m an independent investigative journalist who enjoys digging deeper into the stories you see on the news. Find my work at Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, and more. I’m also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a donation via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.