Jake Tapper left Democrat Senator Tim Kaine dumbfounded when he asked about a new poll showing the national party is widely unpopular.

The CNN host referenced a recent Quinnipiac poll as he interviewed the one time vice presidential candidate on Sunday.

It showed that just 31 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the Democratic party, while 57 percent see it as unfavorable. 

This led Tapper to ask: ‘Why is your party so staggeringly unpopular with the public?’

‘Jake, you know me – I’m a Virginian,’ Kaine stumbled. ‘I know one state well and not so well the other 49.’

He wanted to avoid answering the question by talking about how his home state changed from being predominantly Republican (‘ruby red’) to consistently Democratic. He mentioned that the Democratic Party in Virginia focused on the economy to attract supporters.

‘We focus on competent government and running the economy in a great big way that focuses on innovation and advancing,’ Kaine said.

‘We want to make it here, we want to build it here and in ag and forestry, we want to grow it here.’

‘Let’s return to the bread and butter basics that people want to rally focus on,’ he suggested of the Democratic Party. 

‘And I think the Democrats can do well, especially when Donald Trump’s tariffs are driving up their prices every day.’ 

However, Tapper, the interviewer, seemed unconvinced as he reacted by rolling his eyes and undermining the senator’s statements regarding the achievements of the Democratic Party in Virginia.

Tapper countered by pointing out that the Governor of Virginia is actually a Republican who defeated a previous Democratic governor by a significant margin in the election.

‘By 1.8 percent,’ Kaine shot back. ‘The last two Republicans that won the governorship in Virginia won by comfortable double digits.

‘Our governor is a Republican,’ he continued. ‘He ran during a very good year to be a Republican, and he won barely.

‘We have a governor’s race this year in Virginia,’ Kaine added. ‘We feel really good about our chances.

‘I think the governor’s race in Virginia [in] November 2025 will be the first bellwether test of a Democratic comeback,’ he said. ‘And I’m feeling really, really good about that right now.’

Tapper’s interview with Kaine came just one day after the national party elected Ken Martin as the new leader.

Martin, 51, the chair of Minnesota’s arm of the DNC, won the first round of voting on Saturday following a hotly contested race where he was seen by many as an underdog candidate. 

He won the race with 246.5 votes, over 134.5 votes for establishment favorite Ben Wilker, 44 votes for former presidential candidate Martin O’Malley, and two votes for Fair Shakir, former presidential campaign manager for Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2020. 

Wilker fell short despite endorsements from Democrat heavyweights including House leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  

In his victory speech, Martin declared: ‘The fight’s not in here. The fight is for our values. The fight is for working people. The fight right now is against Donald Trump and the billionaires who bought this country.’ 

With his election as DNC Chair on Saturday, Martin becomes the first white male in the job since Virginia Senator Tim Kaine left the position in 2011. 

His victory comes months after he raised eyebrows with an appearance on CNN following Trump’s election win, where he slammed his own party.

Serving as the vice-chair of the DNC at the time, Martin declared that Republicans are now seen as the party that best represents the working-class.  

Martin pointed to issues within the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, with in-fighting over controversial policies such as President Biden’s funding of Israel’s war in Gaza seen by some observers as undermining the party in the election. 

He told CNN’s Jake Tapper in his election post-mortem: ‘For the first time, the majority of Americans believe that the Republican Party best represents the interests of the working class and the poor.

‘And the Democratic Party represents the interests of the wealthy and the elite.

‘That is a damning indictment on our party brand,’ he continued. ‘And that’s something we have to figure out as we move forward.’

But the Democratic National Committee’s leadership vote was widely mocked by conservatives, after Former Chair Jaime Harrison announced the elections had to be conducted in a manner that ensured precise gender representation, with non-binary candidates included in the equation.

Many saw the rhetoric as proof the party has ‘learned absolutely nothing’ from its crushing 2024 election losses.

Martin will now work behind-the-scenes in preparing for the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election, primarily through fundraising and organizing the party’s platform.