Motivated or “Meh”: How Democratic and Independent Voters Feel Post-November Elections
While many are celebrating the November 4th, 2025, elections as sweeping wins, do American voters feel as optimistic?
Democrats enjoyed a series of wins on November 4th, 2025, including Gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, the Mayoral race in New York City, the passing of Proposition 50 in California, and other statewide races that flipped Republican-held Senate seats and state Supreme Court seats.
Following these sweeping wins in the first round of major elections in Trump’s second term, Democrats are celebrating, with Ken Martin, the DNC Chair, proclaiming, “The Democrats are back, and we’re winning. We’ve got the momentum going into the midterm elections.”
Here at Grow Progress, we wanted to know if voters, particularly Democrats and Independents, were feeling as enthusiastic in the immediate aftermath of the elections. To that end, we ran an Audience Understanding Survey with almost one thousand Americans, asking how they felt about the direction of the country just days after the elections.
Executive Summary
In our analysis, one of the first things we noticed was that many respondents answered based on the 2024 Presidential election outcome rather than on the most recent elections we asked about.
That said, we found a sizable commonality and shared sentiment regardless of which election they were focused on.
Key Takeaways:
- Over 60% of Democrats in our sample still think the country is going somewhat or very much in the wrong direction. Many Democrats who are aware of/happy with the 2025 election outcomes emphasized the need to maintain the momentum created this year going into the 2026 midterms, citing fears of Republican misinformation and meddling.
- Independents also largely feel that the country is headed in the wrong direction (54%), with their major concern being the ongoing worsening of material conditions, while politicians on all sides appear unable to improve living conditions.
With the 2026 midterm elections around the corner, both are compelling reasons to begin testing your messages. Political campaigns and advocacy groups have the time right now to get a strong directional signal on how to speak to both segments, and then test iteratively, with enough time to get the most persuadable assets to market and make an impact on these two critical issues.
Segment Analysis
Here we’ll dive into the data to take a closer look at the Democratic and Independent segments.
Democrats
We asked, “Thinking about the results of the November 4th, 2025 elections, which of the following is closest to your view?”
- 5% said they haven’t followed the election results
- 40% feel the country is very much moving in the wrong direction
- 22% feel it’s somewhat moving in the wrong direction
- 24% said somewhat in the right direction
- 9% feel it’s very much moving in the right direction
Again, while these numbers reflect feelings about the 2025 elections and the 2024 Presidential election, we gained a clearer understanding of why they answered the way they did through their open-ended responses.
Democrats who answered that the country is headed in the right direction (n=95) saw the election results as a positive outcome but feel there is more work to be done.
“I liked the election results, but we will need more than that to rescue this country from the mess we are in.”
“I fear that it’s a flash in the pan and that we won’t be able to keep the momentum going.”
This same group also voiced their concerns around misinformation, interference, and a fear that Republicans will try to “rig” the next election.
“Republicans will re-double their efforts to subvert the democratic process and try to steal the 2026 election.”
“I’m worried that the Republicans will try to prevent newly elected officials from being sworn in.”
“I worry about misinformation and how it affects voter decisions.”
Democrats who said the country is moving in the wrong direction (n=207) were mostly focused on Trump’s election in 2024, but were also comprised of people who were referencing the 2025 elections.
Regarding Trump, they had this to say:
“I am very disappointed in the results of the election last year. I can’t believe Trump is still getting another chance.”
“The country is being torn apart by a rich bully, self-serving, mean, old man authoritarian who is obsessed with abusing power & lining his pockets & doing nothing for the American people.”
This same group of Democrats also cited how people are struggling, and that extreme divisions and polarization are getting more problematic.
“People are currently hungry and unable to afford basic medical care, clothing, shelter, and food for their families. The poor have become poorer as billionaires grow richer. The mood is unsettled, and public trust is gone. The future looks grim.”
“The country is too divided, and the current administration is showing they don’t care about unaffordable Healthcare, SNAP, global warming, and so many other things.”
Independents
We asked, “Thinking about the results of the November 4th, 2025 elections, which of the following is closest to your view?”
- 22% said they haven’t followed the election results
- 38% feel the country is very much moving in the wrong direction
- 16% feel it’s somewhat moving in the wrong direction
- 18% said somewhat in the right direction
- 7% feel it’s very much moving in the right direction
There was far less commonality amongst Independents, and at almost a quarter of respondents (22%), we saw the highest percentage of any group who said they haven’t followed the election results.
While many, sadly, gave little context for their choices, those who did shared similar sentiments about the daily struggle for people. They want politicians to stop fighting and make things happen, or are convinced that politics isn’t the way to improve their conditions, and will remain checked out until they’re proven wrong or feel more included.
“The country will continue to separate into two parts. The Right and Left and the Haves and Have Nots.”
“With all that is going on, I believe the nation is divided; it is no longer working for the good of the people.”
Government Shutdown
It’s also worth noting that while this study was underway, the government was shut down, and some Democrats sided with Republicans to end it. While we did not specifically ask about the shutdown, this was top of mind for some respondents. 81 out of the 993 respondents in this survey mentioned the government shutdown in one or more of their open-ended responses.
The vast majority of those 81 respondents said the country was moving in the wrong direction.
“Right now the government is shut down, that’s not good.”
“The govt. is still shut down and our son has missed 2 paychecks. Until that is resolved, the country is in a bad place. This is the worst administration in the history of this country.”
“The country is going in the wrong direction because the President does not care about the poor. The government is shut down due to his policies!”
Conclusion
The results of the November 4th, 2025, elections are major successes for the Democratic Party and are hopefully an early indicator of how voters feel about the Trump administration as we head into the 2026 midterms. But there is a real danger of not knowing or addressing the concerns of Democrats and Independents before then.
Simply relying on the core Democratic base is no longer enough to enact the changes we want to see, especially as further talks of gerrymandering happen in red states. Democrats need to speak to the very real concerns of Independents and non-voters, as the Mamdani campaign did, which ended up doubling the number of people aged 18-29 who voted, through empathy and engagement.
Now is the time to begin directional testing, understand what resonates with key subgroups early on, and spend the rest of the time until midterms iterating and perfecting your messages to voters.
