Democrats should talk less about the conservative platform known as “Project 2025” if they want to make inroads with voters, a new poll from a liberal consortium suggests.
The fresh data indicates that many registered voters still don’t know what the conservative policy agenda is or why it matters, even as Democrats have made it a central talking point over the last year and as President Donald Trump implements major parts of it.
The good news for Democrats? The same survey finds many other messages about Trump do resonate with the public, including ones that reference an increasingly unpopular Elon Musk.
In the view of the political strategists behind the poll, from the progressive polling project Navigator Research, that contrasting dynamic suggests the Democratic Party and other liberal groups are better off focusing their message away from “Project 2025” and toward specific people and policies involved in the Trump White House.
“The top-line takeaway is that we think Project 2025 has its time and place but isn’t really the enemy of the people,” said Rachael Russell, polling and analytics director for Navigator. “People are much more likely to point to Musk and Musk/DOGE as this thing that is really wreaking havoc on the American public and taking away critical programs that people depend on.”
Nearly one-third of registered voters polled said they weren’t sure what to think of Project 2025, according to the Navigator poll, a number that swells to 44% among independents and 48% among Republicans who don’t identify as supporters of the MAGA movement. Similarly, 38% of them said they have neither a favorable nor unfavorable opinion of the conservative platform.
In contrast, nearly all Americans know about Musk, the survey found, with two-thirds saying they have heard a lot about his involvement in the White House. Musk’s cost-cutting efforts with the Department of Government Efficiency have drawn widespread attention in the first months of Trump’s tenure, even if many disapprove of what he’s done.
Fifty-three percent of those polled, in fact, say the billionaire industrialist’s activity in the Trump administration makes them feel more negative about the president, compared to just 28% who say he makes them feel more positively.
Fifty-six percent of them said they now have a negative view of Musk, according to the poll, compared to 38% who hold a positive view. In February, the survey found the public more evenly split on Musk, with 51% of those polled holding a negative view and 41% holding a favorable view.
The lack of widespread awareness about Project 2025 — a policy blueprint drawn up by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank — will frustrate some Democrats, who have repeatedly called attention to it since last year and point out that many of its elements have been implemented by the Trump administration. But instead of doubling down on focusing on it, some party strategists are urging Democrats to take their focus elsewhere.
“We’ve seen a lot in communication that Project 2025 remains this boogeyman to a lot of kind of insidery folks,” Russell said. “And I think our question is like, ‘Do regular Americans think that?’”
The poll found that many registered voters who pay close attention to politics were aware of Project 2025, but that awareness dropped considerably among less-engaged people. Just 62% of less-engaged Democrats said they were aware of it, per the poll, compared to 84% of more engaged Democrats.
—
Alex Roarty is a reporter at NOTUS.