As the 2026 midterm elections approach, Democrats are fighting to claim the majority in one or both chambers of Congress. But, according to a recent poll, the Democratic Party is polling below almost every key figure and organization — with the exception of the brutal Iranian regime.

An NBC News poll, published by the legacy news outlet on March 8, asked a number of standard questions regarding the economy, military action in Iran, and the overall performance thus far of President Donald Trump — but it also ranked a number of key figures and organizations based on their net favorability.

The Democratic Party, with a net favorability rating of -22, ranked near the bottom of the list — in fact, only the Iranian regime ranked below the Democrats, albeit with a much lower net favorability of -53. Pope Leo the 14th ranked highest overall with a net favorability of 34.

President Donald Trump (-12) and the Republican Party (-14) were near the middle of the list — and as far as 2028 presidential contenders, Republicans fared far better than Democrats did there as well. Two of the most likely Democratic primary candidates — former Vice President Kamala Harris at -17 and Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) at -18 — ranked decidedly lower than current Vice President JD Vance (-11) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (-7). Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who is rumored to be considering either a presidential bid or a move to unseat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, was the only Democrat to break into the top half of the list, tying with Vance at -11.

The poll surveyed 1000 registered voters, just over half of whom were female. They were evenly divided along political lines, with 42% saying they leaned Republican, 42% saying they leaned Democrat, and the rest identifying themselves as either independent or other.

As to the other questions, just under half (44%) said they approved of President Trump’s performance thus far, and 54% disapproved. On border security specifically, the president fared much better, with just over half (53%) approving of his actions and a little less than half (44%) disapproving. On foreign policy, 43% approved and 54% disapproved — a slight shift from one year prior, when 45% approved and 53% disapproved. On the war in Iran, more than one-third (41%) approved of the president’s actions, and just over half (54%) disapproved.

A number of polls in recent months have spelled trouble for the Democrats, with one from The Wall Street Journal (in July of 2025) noting that Democrats had sunk to their lowest approval rating in decades, with well over half (63%) holding a negative view of the party.

In order to understand why opera and ballet fans are so mad at actor Timothée Chalamet, you’ll need to go back to a February 24 town hall interview he did with Matthew McConaughey for Variety and CNN.

At the time, the 30-year-old “Marty Supreme” star disparaged the two art forms, claiming they were outdated and irrelevant.

“I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, who go on a talk show and go, ‘Hey, we gotta keep movie theaters alive. You know, we gotta keep this genre alive,'” Chalamet said at the time. “And another part of me feels like, if people want to see it, like ‘Barbie,’ like ‘Oppenheimer,’ they’re going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it.”

“I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore,’” the actor went on. “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost fourteen cents in viewership. I just took shots for no reason.”

This led to Chalamet being slammed by the opera and ballet community. There are even debates over whether the actor reduced his likelihood of winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in less than a week, with betting markets reducing Chalamet’s odds for taking home a golden statue after predicting him as a likely winner for months.

Many have pointed out that it’s only his reputation that risks being ruined, because the Oscars ballots were submitted long before the clip went public.

Chalamet’s comments went viral on social media and got some big reactions. The Metropolitan Opera posted a video showing all the work that goes into productions and added the caption, “All respect to the opera (and ballet) people out there…This one’s for you, @tchalamet.”

LA Opera posted an update to say they were considering giving the actor free tickets, but decided not to because “it’s selling out.” The caption added, “There are a few seats left to purchase if you hurry.” The U.K.’s Royal Ballet and Opera also stressed how popular their shows were and invited Chalamet to come check out the “sheer magic” of a live performance.

Seattle Opera offered 14% off tickets to “Carmen” for patrons using the promo code TIMOTHEE. “Timmy, you’re welcome to use it too,” they said.

And it wasn’t just ballet companies getting in on the mockery. On a recent episode of “Jeopardy!” a category featuring ballet and opera was shared in Instagram reels alongside the caption, “NOBODY @ HIM 👀 #timotheechalamet.”

The ladies of “The View” also weren’t happy with Chalamet. Panelist Sunny Hostin said she was “offended” and “disappointed” by his comments, while moderator Whoopi Goldberg had a rant of her own.

“You come from a dance family. And so, when you crap on somebody else’s art form, it doesn’t feel good,” Goldberg said. “It doesn’t feel good to see, and you probably didn’t realize that until you said, ‘Oh, I’m in trouble.’ But then you compounded it, and said ’14 cents.’ No, when people get mad, it’ll be a lot more than 14 cents. So be careful. I’m just saying, be careful, boy.”

“And really, don’t apologize when you’ve insulted, because it doesn’t sound right. You can’t say, ‘Oh, this is dumb and no disrespect for’ — that’s absolute disrespect!” she went on.

Chalamet missed becoming the youngest ever Best Actor winner at last year’s Oscars for his role in “A Complete Unknown.” He took home his first ever Golden Globe earlier this year for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role in “Marty Supreme.”