Here's Why Dems Have 21% Approval—The Lowest In History

A case study of how corporate democrats have ruined our party and must be ousted for the party—and democracy—to survive

Does this make any sense to you? At just 21%, Democrats have the worst approval rating in history. Meanwhile, Trump and Republican ratings are at historic highs.

The man in the White House is a fascist and aspiring autocrat yet sits at 47%, his entirely complicit party sits at 40%, and yet, Democrats are at an abysmal 21%. This is no accident and we must understand how we got here. Simply blaming the GOP is not a strategy. The American people, particularly the Democratic Party’s base, is sick and tired of the hypocrisy in politics in general and in our own Party specifically. And until we change, the Democratic Party—and our republic—will continue to fall.

We must name the culprits who got us here, and then work to overcome their obstructionism—corporate Democrats. Let’s Address This.

Bill Foster, working hard in Congress. [Photo Credit: Foster’s Twitter Account]

What Democrats Believe

Let’s start with some basic facts.

• More than 90% of Democrats believe climate change is real and caused by human activity, particularly by big oil corporations like Exxon.

• More than 90% of Democrats believe civil rights are sacred and should never be compromised for corporate profits.

• More than 90% of Democrats believe banks should be regulated and taxpayers should stop bailing out major corporations.

• More than 90% of Democrats believe corporate money has no place in politics, and want politicians to be people funded, not corporate or superPAC funded.

• More than 70% of Democrats believe healthcare is a human right, want to join every developed nation on Earth to ensure universal healthcare.

• More than 70% of Democrats believe in an end to the arms trade—indeed 77% wanted the Biden administration to stop arming Netanyahu.

While not an exhaustive list, each of these are wildly popular policies among Democratic voters, that every Democratic politician should support. Thus ,this article is not about theory. Instead, I provide a clear case study of a corporate Democrat who is virtually indistinguishable from the Republicans he claims to oppose. And sadly, he’s not alone. Too many corporate Democrats follow this model, and it is unsustainable. These saboteurs are complicit in the collapse of our Republic because they betray Democratic party principles, side with MAGA Republicans at critical moments, and give Republicans cover to claim that their cruel (sometimes fascist) policies have “bipartisan” support.

As you read this, I ask you to consider why we tolerate such politicians in our party, how such politicians are the cause of the distrust voters have with the Democratic Party, and how much longer we will tolerate them before demanding they leave the party altogether, resign from their seats, or retire?

So in our case study, I present to you Congressman Bill Foster, a corporate funded multi-millionaire politician who is on the wrong side of each of these policies, and has actively worked with Republicans to undermine our basic civil rights and human rights.

Bill Foster (IL-11): The Corporate Democrat Who Betrays Our Values

Corporate Democrats like Bill Foster, who turns 70 this year, aren’t just a problem for the Democratic Party—their policies are a threat to our democracy. This is not hyperbole, it’s a factual observation of his 8 terms in Congress. Foster’s voting record, his financial ties, and his outright refusal to stand for core Democratic principles reveal the truth: he’s effectively a Republican hiding behind a blue label.

But don’t take my word for it. Let’s break down Foster’s disgraceful record.

Healthcare: A Corporate Puppet Hurting Working Families

Democrats believe healthcare is a human right—Bill Foster’s voting record doesn’t.

At first glance, it’s encouraging that Bill Foster voted in 2009 to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Mortifying, however, is that afterwards he accepted hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions from Big Health, then voted at least three times with Republicans to gut the ACA. Specifically, he voted to gut the part of the ACA that protects people with pre-existing conditions (HR3350), the part that bans charging women more than men (HR3522), and the part that protects seniors (HR1190). Had these bills that Bill Foster supported passed, it would have meant that children like my daughter, who has an incurable disease that is fatal if not treated, would be denied care. Worse, Foster opposes guaranteed healthcare, and calls it unrealistic—even though every developed nation on Earth has implemented it at half the cost we are forced to spend on for profit insurance.

One of Foster’s beloved donors? UnitedHealth—yes, the same company caught using AI to deny more than 90% of Medicare claims for senior citizens. Foster took their money, never returned it, never apologized, and continues cashing their checks.

How can we trust a man who is quite literally paid by the very corporations exploiting our most vulnerable?

Climate Justice: A Scientist Who Sides With Climate Deniers

Democrats believe climate change is real—Bill Foster’s voting record doesn’t.

Foster loves to tout his PhD in physics, claiming that his background as a scientist makes him uniquely qualified to lead on climate policy. But his voting record says otherwise. He voted with Republicans to expand offshore drilling, he supports fracking, and he pushes the junk science of carbon capture—the same nonsense Exxon and Big Oil use to justify continued pollution.

Speaking of Exxon, Foster has happily taken thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Exxon. We are in a climate catastrophe but perhaps Bill Foster is too busy counting Exxon’s dollar bills in his campaign account to notice.

If a scientist like Foster gives climate destruction a stamp of approval, it lets corporations like Exxon say, “See? Even the scientists support us.” That’s not just hypocrisy—that’s complicity in climate disaster.

Foreign Policy: Blood Money from War Profiteers

Democrats believe in ending the arms trade—Bill Foster’s voting record doesn’t.

Foster is funded by defense contractors and pro-war PACs. While the world condemned Netanyahu for war crimes in Gaza and while Americans overwhelmingly demanded an immediate ceasefire, Foster refused to act. Instead, he continued to vote to continue to arm Netanyahu. Despite 77% of Democrats demanding an end to arming Netanyahu, and despite our own State Department affirming that Netanyahu is committing war crimes in violation of international law and our own U.S. Leahy Laws, Foster refused to speak up and demand an end to arming Netanyahu.

If he can’t even stand up against war crimes when the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice both confirm them, then what does he actually stand for?

Economic Justice: Protecting the Wealthy, Betraying the Working Class

Democrats believe in fighting for working people—Bill Foster’s voting record doesn’t.

Foster is worth $20 million—and unsurprisingly, his policies prioritize the wealthy at the expense of working families. We see a similar pattern in his voting record as we did with his healthcare hypocrisy.

Foster voted for Dodd-Frank bank regulation under Obama. Then he took absurd amounts of money from major banks. And then in 2017 he voted with Trump to deregulate banks. Hypocrisy notwithstanding, what does it say about a person’s ethics and intelligence if he trusts Donald Trump—the convicted felon and known bank fraudster—on banking and finance? This deregulation directly contributed to the near-collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which Biden then bailed out on the taxpayer’s dime.

And yet, while Foster fights for bank bailouts, he refuses to support student debt cancellation. So when billion-dollar banks need help after his deregulation lets them run wild, taxpayers foot the bill. But when working-class students, crushed under predatory loans, ask for relief, suddenly, the government can’t afford it. What else would you expect from a politician who takes campaign contributions from Amazon? Yep, while Amazon avoids taxes and exploits its workers, Bill Foster is happy to cash their campaign contributions.

And don’t even get me started on Foster’s refusal to co-sponsor HR 40, a bill to merely study reparations for Black Americans. Apparently, even voting for research into economic justice for Black Americans is too much for the scientist.

Americans trust Republicans over Democrats on the economy, in large part due to corporate Democrats like Foster who refuse to prioritize the needs of working families.

Civil Rights: Undermining the ADA and Expanding the Surveillance State

Democrats believe civil rights are sacred—Bill Foster’s voting record doesn’t.

Foster’s betrayal doesn’t stop with healthcare, climate, and economic justice. He has actively undermined civil rights by co-sponsoring a bill with Republicans to weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). H.R. 620, which was misleadingly called the “ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017,” would have eroded what the ACLU called “a key tenet of that landmark [1990] civil rights law.” And Bill Foster chose to co-sponsor this cruel bill with Republicans in hopes that Donald Trump sign it into law. Again, a similar pattern. Foster brags about his father writing the Civil Rights Acts, then Foster took thousands from a lobbyist group that wanted to avoid making their businesses ADA-compliant, then Foster voted to gut the ADA.

Yes, Bill Foster—the same guy who brags that his father helped write civil rights legislation—actively worked to make life harder for people with disabilities. Foster apparently believes disabled Americans have too much power in this country, and he made it his mission to stop this grave injustice. (Satire, obviously—because what else could justify his cruelty?) As you see Trump gut civil rights, know that he can point to corporate Democrats like Bill Foster as among his ardent bipartisan supporters.

And gutting the ADA notwithstanding, Foster also voted to extend the Patriot Act, continuing the mass surveillance and erosion of civil liberties that both progressives and libertarians oppose. Again, as you see the Trump regime arbitrarily arrest Mahmoud Khalil and deport documented immigrants, know that the groundwork for such extremism was perpetuated by voting to renew grotesque bills like the Patriot Act, thanks to corporate Democrats like Bill Foster.

A Career of Meaningless, Empty Leadership

Democrats believe in getting things done—Bill Foster’s voting record doesn’t.

Adding insult to all of the above injury, Bill Foster has never passed a single actual meaningful piece of legislation. His greatest legislative achievement after 8 terms in Congress? Renaming a post office after Ronald Reagan. Yes, Reagan—the racist, homophobic architect of trickle-down economics who gutted public education, slashed social programs, and made the rich richer while the rest of us suffered.

And this is Foster’s hero?

That tells you everything you need to know.

The Hard Truth: We Cannot Afford Corporate Democrats Like Foster

Some will argue that any Democrat is better than a MAGA Republican. But is that really the standard we’re willing to live with? It’s that standard that got Democrats to a 21% approval. And let’s be honest—what’s the difference anyway when Foster repeatedly votes with Republicans to gut healthcare, deregulate banks, expand fossil fuel destruction, enable war crimes, and undermine civil rights? His actions give MAGA extremists bipartisan cover to push their corrupt, corporate-driven agenda. If Democrats continue protecting these frauds, we may as well hand MAGA Republicans another term on a silver platter. We cannot let that happen.

Bill Foster is not just a bad Democrat—he’s actively destructive to our party and our democracy. His policies hurt working people, gut critical protections, and embolden MAGA extremism. Corporate Democrats like Foster will never save us from Trumpism because, at their core, they operate under the same corrupt, pay-for-play system as Republicans.

Conclusion

If I only listed out Bill Foster’s record but without naming him, you would justifiably believe he’s a MAGA Republican. And that’s fundamentally the problem. It’s no wonder that after Schumer capitulated to Trump on the budget bill, a poll asking registered voters what they thought of our party revealed the below word cloud—with the most prominent word being WEAK.

Corporate Democrats like Bill Foster are weak. They are weak on passing legislation, they are weak on protecting working people, they are weak on upholding principles, and they are weak when fighting against MAGA extremism. Why? Because it’s difficult for them to fight against an opposition party, when they so fundamentally agree with that opposition party on so much.

And to be sure, this is not a purity test. Four out of five Americans are screaming at the Democratic Party that your corporate Democrat strategy is failing. And while corporate Democrats like Bill Foster are funded much too handsomely by billion dollar corporations and SuperPACS to care what the American people think—that’s the beauty of our republic. If we can’t change his mind, we can change his seat. It’s time to vote out corporate Democrats once and for all, and revive the Democratic Party built by and for working people.

That’s how we form a more perfect Union and protect our Republic, with meaningful liberty and justice for all.

Bonus Thoughts

Perhaps if there is interest from readers, I’ll analyze the records of other corporate Democrats who continue to align with MAGA Republicans to undermine our party and our democracy. This includes the 10 House Democrats who voted to censure Rep Al Green for standing up to Trump on gutting Medicaid. Or the 10 Senate Democrats who joined Schumer to give Trump the exact budget he wanted, that guts critical social welfare programs to pay for a $4.5T tax cut for billionaires. If readers feels this is of benefit to helping them becoming more informed voters, name the politician and I’ll pursue a series going forward.

For now I’m reminded of the sage words of Professor Tan Nahisi Coates’ in a recent interview, where he said about the Democratic Party:

We are at a moment right now where people are asking themselves why can’t the Democratic Party defend this assault on democracy . . . and I would submit to you that if you can’t draw the line at genocide, you probably can’t draw the line at democracy.

Professor Coates’ words are stinging as they are true. And to offer nuance, I would draw his ire specifically towards corporate Democrats in the Party who, while railing against Trump and his fascism, accept funding from the same corrupt corporations and PACS, embrace the same corrupt policies, and make the same corrupt excuses for why change is not possible.

Meanwhile, we have some amazing leaders in the Democratic Party. While no one is perfect, we see the brilliance of Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Congresswoman Jasmine Crocket, Congresswoman AOC, Congressman Jamie Raskin, Congressman Mark Pocan, Congressman Andre Carson, Congresswoman Delia Ramirez, and the list certainly goes on. I have hope in these leaders because they live their values and are honest with the American people. If these leaders represented our Party’s leadership and main body, MAGA Republicans would never have a chance at grasping power. Sadly, such fighters are too few, and weak corporate Democrats like Bill Foster are too many. Until that flips, the Democratic Party will continue to suffer, it will continue to fail to serve as a meaningful opposition party to MAGA extremism, and worse of all, it will continue to fail to earn the trust of the American voter.

Foster and corporate Democrats like him are why our party has a 21% approval rating. But let’s not pretend ridding ourselves of such corporate bought politicians is easy. Corporate Democrats use the same underhanded, racist, and unethical tactics as Republicans to cling to power. I’ll address that in a future piece.

For now, one thing is clear: if we want to reclaim our democracy, we must reject Bill Foster and every corporate Democrat like him. Our movement is bigger than any one politician—but it starts with holding them accountable.

The question is: are we willing to fight, or will we keep letting corporate shills like Foster sell us out?

It’s long past time to choose.