Four months into Trump's second term, Democrats remain deeply pessimistic about their party

Democrats remain pessimistic about the future of their party, six months after they suffered setbacks up and down the ballot at the hands of now-President Donald Trump and Republicans.

That's a key finding in a newly released national poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

According to the survey, only about one-third of Democrats are very or somewhat optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party. That's a steep decline from last July, when around six in 10 Democrats said they were optimistic.

The Democratic Party has been in the political wilderness since last November's elections, when Republicans won back control of the White House and the Senate and defended their fragile House majority. And Republicans made gains among Black and ...