Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, once a rising star of the Democratic Party, is seeing a remarkable shift in his political standing — and it’s raising eyebrows across party lines. According to recent polling, a whopping 54% of Democrats now disapprove of his Senate performance, a sharp drop from last year’s 80% approval. Meanwhile, 62% of Republicans now approve of Fetterman, up from just 16% last year. For a Democrat, those numbers are almost unheard of — and some are quietly wondering if Fetterman might be eyeing a change in party affiliation.
The shift isn’t surprising to those paying attention. Fetterman has repeatedly crossed the aisle, siding with Republicans on key votes, including supporting a Republican-led funding measure to avoid a government shutdown. He has openly criticized the Democratic National Committee and refused to label Trump supporters as “Nazis or fascists,” earning him praise among conservatives.
Tim Malloy, polling analyst at Quinnipiac University, summed it up succinctly:
“One-time Democratic darling John Fetterman flips the approval script as Republicans embrace him and Democrats give him low marks nearly two years after GOP voters wouldn’t give him the time of day.”
Fetterman himself doesn’t hide his disdain for the party’s far-left wing. In a recent interview on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, he explained his refusal to toe the typical Democratic line:
“If you want a Democrat that’s going to call people Nazis or fascists or all these kinds of things … I’m not going to be that guy,” he said.
He has also taken aim at the party’s infatuation with socialism. On September 9, Fetterman blasted Democrats for embracing socialist policies, citing a Gallup poll showing only 42% of Americans view capitalism favorably, while 66% favor socialism. Fetterman drew on firsthand experience from a visit to Croatia, a former communist nation, to illustrate the dangers of adopting far-left economic policies.
“I asked some locals what they thought about socialism,” Fetterman recounted. “They said it was the worst thing ever. A nightmare. And they warned Americans are morons if we try to adopt any of that here.”
He didn’t mince words, delivering a reality check to Democrats flirting with socialism:
“You’re going to need a reality check if you ever adopt any of those things. It was a nightmare for us, and now we are a free market nation. That’s Croatia.”
Fetterman’s embrace of common-sense, free-market principles has earned him the approval of conservative voters, while putting him increasingly at odds with his own party. In a political landscape where loyalty to ideology often outweighs practical governance, Fetterman’s willingness to break from the leftist playbook is drawing attention from Republicans and independents alike — and earning him a reputation as a rare Democrat who actually thinks like an American.
With midterm and presidential politics heating up, Fetterman’s unusual coalition of support may foreshadow broader realignments in Pennsylvania politics — and perhaps signal a Democratic Party losing touch with the voters it once courted.
