Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville says there is no point feeling “angst” about the party’s current polling numbers because they are still winning elections.
Speaking to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday, Carville admitted the party’s image is still “in the toilet” in the wake of President Trump’s 2024 election victory, but he is not overly concerned because Democrats are achieving results where it matters.
“We’re winning elections left and right,” Carville said. “We just won an election in Omaha and beat a 12-year incumbent. We were winning elections in Senate districts and House districts that Trump carried in Iowa by about 20 [points]. We were winning the elections. We won in Wisconsin by 10.”
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“So I’m not that upset and angst about mid-May of 2025,” he added. “We’ve got Virginia coming up, we’re going to win that. The political press is going to be reporting polling numbers, and I’m going to be looking at election results.”
Several polls post-November 2024 have shown that Democratic voters are concerned about the party’s future and not confident they can turn things around.
A survey released Wednesday from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 35 percent of Democrats have a “very” or “somewhat” optimistic view of the party—a 22-point decline from the 57 percent recorded in the July 2024 survey.
In comparison, Republicans are now more optimistic about the future of the GOP than they were last July, by 8 points (47 percent to 55 percent).
Despite this, Carville notes that the party has managed to pull off a number of key victories across the country.
Omaha is set to have its first Black mayor after Democrat John Ewing Jr. defeated 12-year incumbent Republican Jean Stothert on Wednesday.
In April, the Wisconsin Supreme Court election was won by liberal candidate Susan Crawford over the GOP-endorsed Brad Schimel by a 10-point margin. This is despite Schimel being heavily backed by MAGA figures such as Elon Musk in what was the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history.
Looking ahead, Carville believes that Democrat Abigail Spanberger will also be victorious in her bid to replace the term-limited Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin in November.
“The party doesn’t have much image, but it’s true, at least in these off-year elections, they’re voting for the Democrat,” he said.
“I don’t think anybody wants to bet me that Spanberger doesn’t win in Virginia, but if you do, I’m happy to book any bet that anybody has.”
