Ocasio-Cortez faces backlash as her 'unfavorable' rating jumps FIFTEEN percentage points since she shot to fame during election campaign Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 29-year-old freshman congresswoman from New York, has a growing approval gap that points in the wrong direction In September, 24 per cent of Americans viewed her favorably and 26 per cent viewed her unfavorably; fully 50 per cent had never heard of her Last month those numbers were at 41 per cent negative, 31 per cent positive and 28 with no opinion 'Unfavorables' jumped 15 points while 'favorables' grew by just 7 points Gallup's poll numbers indicate that the more Americans learn about the socialist wunderkind, the less they like But she still has a 'net positive' standing among women, americans age 18-25 and self-identified Democrats — the same demographics she organized to winBy David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor For Dailymail.com Published: 19:18 GMT, 15 March 2019 | Updated: 19:41 GMT, 15 March 2019 20 Viewcomments Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's public approval rating nosedived between September and February, polling data from Gallup show. Significantly more Americans recognize the Democratic congresswoman's name since a combination of socialism and shoe leather catapulted her to stardom with a Democratic primary win over a 10-term incumbent. Just 21 per cent of American adults told Gallup's pollsters last month that they didn't know who Ocasio-Cortez was. That number was 50 per cent in September, before she coasted to victory in the general election. But the more people recognize her, the less they like what they hear: The number of people who have unfavorable views of the 29-year-old lawmaker from New York has grown far faster than her fan base. New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a growing public approval problem, with just 31 per cent of Americans saying the have a favorable view of her Ocasio-Cortez, a self-described democratic socialist, is drowning among adults in general by 10 points, and by other margins among Republicans, independents, men, whites, and everyone over age 34 Ocasio-Cortez won a favorable rating from 24 per cent of Americans In Gallup's September poll, compared with 26 per cent who disagreed. Those numbers both grew by February, to 31 per cent favorable and 41 per cent unfavorable. That means the proportion her detractors have grown by 15 per cent while her backers grew just 7 per cent. The democratic socialist wunderkind has more admirers than opponents among nonwhites, women, americans age 18-35 and self-identified Democrats. Every other demographic is against her. It may not matter in 2020, since she represents an exceedingly liberal New York City district and won her 2018 primary by organizing those same groups. As her spotlight moments give moderate Democrats more and more to cringe about, however, she could find herself facing her own primary challenger next summer. Of the seven controversial statements Politifact.com's researchers have evaluated, they gave Ocasio-Cortez either 'false' or 'pants on fire' ratings for five. Another was considered 'half-true.' 'AOC' as she's known, is just 29 years old and has earned 'false' and 'pants on fire' ratings from fact-checkers for cringe-worthy public statements In one case, she claimed the U.S. military had lost or misspent $21 trillion dollars, concluding that the Pentagon has squandered two-thirds of the cost of the socialized medicine plan she favors. That number was dramatically out of scale with an agency whose average budget is 25 times smaller. In another, she claimed U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement was required to keep a minimum of 34,000 people in its detention centers every night. Federal law actually says ICE must maintain 34,000 beds in case it needs that many. She also claimed America's unemployment rate is at a historic low 'because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their family.' The average work-week for a full-time U.S. employee is hovering at around 34.5 hours, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And only about 5 per cent of Americans in the workforce hold down more than one job. Last month Ocasio-Cortez raised eyebrows nationwide when she asked whether runaway climate change meant it was not 'okay to still have children' — calling concern about perpetuating the human race a 'legitimate question' Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility