This underscores the reputational damage Schumer has taken in the early days of Trump’s second term, particularly after he decided to advance a GOP spending bill without seeking concessions rather than shut down the government, completely capitulating to Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s extremist agenda. Schumer argued that shutting the government down was a worse look than giving Trump a blank check, but the Democratic base disagrees.
“I think that’s absolutely wrong. Republicans control the House, they control the Senate, they control the Oval Office. They’d be voting against our measure to keep the government open,” Senator Jeff Merkley said at the time. “I think America would understand that this is a Republican shutdown, if there was a shutdown.… You don’t stop a bully by handing over your lunch money, and you don’t stop a tyrant by giving them more power.”
This poll also emphasizes the ideological struggle that rages on within the Democratic Party. While Schumer and other moderates cancel book tours and blame the party’s “woke” left, Ocasio-Cortez had been barnstorming towns with Bernie Sanders, railing against oligarchy and making the progressive case for the party’s future.