In case you were wondering how much the Democrat Party has learned from its electoral thrashing of 2024 and subsequent floundering in Trump 2.0, we've got the answer for you. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. They haven't learned a thing, as new polling from Echelon Insights indicates.
The poll was conducted July 10-14, and asked a near-even split of 2024 Kamala Harris and Donald Trump voters their opinion on a wide-ranging slate of topics, including job approval for Trump and thoughts on 2028 frontrunners. And who do you suppose Democrat voters—at least as of summer 2025—have confidence in to be their nominee in three years? You guessed it: Kamala Harris, who clocked in at 26 percent, outpacing Pete Buttigieg and Gavin Newsom by 15 percent and 16 percent, respectively.
She's the obvious answer in some ways, as she was the left's most recent nominee and has good name recognition amongst the electorate. In theory, Harris and her former boss, Joe Biden, having been ushered out of the White House, would have become the de facto leaders of the Democrat Party, taking lessons learned from 2024 and rebuilding, rebranding and setting their party up for success in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential race.
LOL.
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The truth is that they, and particularly Harris, left the Democrats in disarray and kind of broke. As we've covered here on the pages of RedState, the Harris campaign literally did the GIF of the guy making it rain hundred dollar bills, somehow spending an estimated $1.5 billion during the three blessedly short months that she was the nominee. That left the Democrat National Committee cash strapped heading into the midterms and beyond.
And, well, Biden's Biden. His glory years, if he ever had any, are well behind him now, and the United States is that much better because he's gone. Addition by subtraction, if you will.
Most of us haven't much missed Kamala Harris, either, but apparently a decent number of our neighbors are down for her to make another play for the White House. We'll just put that down to name recognition and the fact that the left is probably still smarting over the fact that Donald Trump has beaten both Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. No first female president for them (so far).
Where things get interesting for Dems, according to the Echelon poll, is who their choice would be if the Democrat Party primary was held today and Kamala Harris wasn't in the running. Bizarrely, the always-angry Tim Walz came in first with 14 percent, followed closely by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at 13 percent. Further proof that the Democrat Party is leaning heavily into the more radical voices on their side.
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The 2028 picture is much, much clearer for Republicans: it's JD Vance ... by a mile. Vance weighed in at a whopping 42 percent, with Ron DeSantis garnering 9 percent and Marco Rubio in third with 7 percent. Notably, this poll was conducted while the Trump administration was dealing with the fallout from the Epstein files, which some thought could damage MAGA and, therefore, Vance's chances in 2028. These numbers seem to disprove that theory, but time will tell.
The question remains: what have the Democrats learned during Trump 2.0? Based on their insistence at keeping Kamala Harris atop the 2028 polls, it seems the answer is "a whole lotta nothing."
If you like raw data and crosstabs, it's worth taking a closer look at Echelon's new poll.
More key takeaways:
— Echelon Insights (@EchelonInsights) July 14, 2025
- Donald Trump’s job approval remains negative, 45-53
- Trump’s economic job approval remains negative, 44-53
- Trump’s immigration job approval ticks back positive, 49-48
- Trump’s foreign policy job approval improves but remains negative, 47-49
-…
Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
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