Former Clinton pollster Doug Schoen is sounding the alarm for his own party—and he’s not sugarcoating it. In a revealing interview on Fox & Friends, Schoen didn’t just critique the Democratic Party—he dismantled it. From leadership to messaging, strategy to vision, Schoen warned that today’s Democrats are “rudderless,” “leaderless,” and utterly out of sync with what the American people want. His blunt assessment? The party exists only to oppose Republicans, especially President Donald Trump.
Schoen’s remarks came after Democrats embarrassed themselves during Trump’s 99-minute address to Congress last month. While Trump laid out his administration’s major policy wins—including moving on border security, gutting bureaucratic waste, and standing up to global adversaries—Democrats sat in sullen silence. Notably, they refused to applaud even when Trump introduced a cancer-stricken 13-year-old boy who had been honored by the Secret Service.
Schoen told host Charlie Hurt that the behavior on display, and the party’s broader posture, reflects a movement that’s both ideologically bankrupt and increasingly irrelevant.
“The Democrats were and are out of step with the American people,” Schoen said. “The American people want to move in the direction Donald Trump is moving in terms of the budget, certainly the border. They probably don’t want to move as quickly as he does, but they see my party as rudderless, leaderless, without a message, strategy, and out of touch with the American people.”
And polling supports his claim. A recent CNN survey found Democrat favorability at a dismal 29%. That’s not just bad—it’s historically bad. And it’s happening despite Trump pushing bold reforms and reshaping federal government agencies with unprecedented speed. Schoen, who served under President Bill Clinton and has always styled himself as a centrist, said the modern Democratic Party has become obsessed with “resistance” instead of relevance.
“I believe in a moderate Democratic Party,” he said. “And right now, my party exists only to oppose the Republicans. It doesn’t have new ideas, fresh ideas—frankly, any ideas—other than oppose.”
It’s a strategy that works when Trump is unpopular, Schoen noted. But when Trump is racking up policy wins, signing billion-dollar investment deals, cutting federal programs, and achieving bipartisan success on issues like fentanyl enforcement and education reform—it falls flat.
Things are so bad for the Democrats that they’re turning on each other. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is under fire from the far-left wing of his party for helping pass a bipartisan spending deal to avoid a government shutdown. That backlash is already translating into polling nightmares. In a 2028 primary hypothetical, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is beating Schumer by 19 points.
When asked who could lead the Democratic Party out of the political wilderness, Schoen had no clear answer.
“At this point, I really don’t know,” he said. “Somebody like [Kentucky Governor] Andy Beshear represents one person who fits that. Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro—usually it’s the governors. And frequently, in the case of Carter and Clinton, it was a southern governor. But somebody could emerge in the way that Obama did in 2007 or 2008. Right now, Charlie, there’s no good answer to your question.”
That’s a terrifying admission for a party already in freefall.
Trump, meanwhile, is charging ahead. From border enforcement to economic revitalization, he’s focused on doing exactly what he promised—putting Americans first. Democrats, by contrast, appear more interested in tantrums, protests, and shielding transgender policies than in addressing crime, inflation, or national security.
As Schoen acknowledged, if all you have is opposition, you better pray your opponent is unpopular. But Donald Trump’s numbers are rising—and voters are taking notice. The Democrats? They’re just taking a seat.
