Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is facing a full-blown revolt from within his own party — and the numbers are unforgiving.
On CNN News Central Tuesday, chief data analyst Harry Enten delivered a brutal assessment: Chuck Schumer is now the least popular Democratic Senate leader on record — dating back to 1985. Drawing from Pew Research and FiveThirtyEight polling, Enten revealed that Schumer’s net approval rating among Democrats is underwater by four points, an unprecedented low for a figure at the top of Senate Democratic leadership.
“This is historic,” Enten said. “The one who has the lowest rating among Democrats is, in fact, Chuck Schumer.” And while raw disapproval is damaging, it’s the reason behind it that may prove fatal to Schumer’s political longevity.
According to Enten, a supermajority of Democrats — 69% — now believe their representatives in Congress are doing too little to oppose President Donald Trump. That number is up 23 points from 2017, when just 46% held that view. For many progressives, Schumer’s leadership has come to symbolize acquiescence rather than aggression — a sentiment that has only grown in the wake of recent budget negotiations.
While Schumer technically opposed the current shutdown deal, his inability to secure key Democratic demands — especially the extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies — has enraged the party’s base. His earlier decision in March to advance a GOP-led stopgap bill to avoid a shutdown drew even sharper internal backlash, seen as a betrayal by those who believe Democrats are consistently folding in high-stakes moments.
And it’s not just the national numbers that spell trouble. Enten highlighted new polling from Siena College showing that Schumer is only +16 net favorable among Democrats in his home state of New York — far from the commanding support a two-term senator and party leader should expect in deep-blue territory.
The rising specter? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Enten didn’t mince words: “If she decides to challenge Chuck Schumer come 2028, she’s got a real leg up… I dare say, at this point, she would be the favorite to beat him.”
Indeed, AOC’s favorability among New York Democrats outpaces Schumer’s by 30 points. For years, talk of a primary challenge from the progressive firebrand seemed speculative at best. Today, it’s edging toward political inevitability.
Schumer, a consummate Washington dealmaker, built his brand in the era of backroom negotiations and incremental wins. But for the growing progressive flank — emboldened by grassroots momentum, online activism, and a hunger for confrontation — that brand no longer sells.
If Chuck Schumer’s political instincts were once assets, they may now be liabilities. The Democratic Party he leads is rapidly evolving, and unless he adapts — or steps aside — he may find that the real fight isn’t with Republicans, but with the very voters who once carried him to the top
