Poll: Roughly One-Third of Dem Voters Want Candidates Who Call Themselves ‘Democratic Socialists’

Socialists have received their share of good news lately.

Whether or not they interpret a Pew Research poll published Tuesday as good news depends on how they choose to read it.

According to the survey, which was conducted Jan. 20-26, 32 percent of Democrat or Democrat-leaning respondents said they like candidates who describe themselves as democratic socialists.

The remaining 68 percent, however, did not report a corresponding dislike of Democratic candidates who call themselves democratic socialists. Indeed, only 11 percent of respondents said they disliked such candidates.

In fact, 56 percent declared ambivalence. They neither like nor dislike democratic socialists, they said.

Historically astute readers may judge for themselves whether or not socialism has anything “democratic” about it. The Pew survey, however, put the two terms together, so we will follow suit.

A deeper dive into the survey results revealed what many have long known — namely, that socialism appeals primarily to young, white, college-educated, affluent Democrats.

For instance, white respondents were twice as likely as blacks and Hispanics to report a favorable view of democratic socialists.

When it came to wealth disparity, roughly the same ratio held true — 40 percent of upper-income respondents favored democratic socialists compared to only 24 percent of lower-income respondents.

Likewise, 41 percent of respondents with college degrees preferred democratic socialists, compared to only 26 percent of non-college-educated respondents.

Finally, respondents aged 18-29 were more likely to favor democratic socialist candidates than those in any other age group.

Of course, no matter the demographic group, either a strong plurality or an outright majority of respondents declared that they neither liked nor disliked democratic socialist candidates.

In these heady times, socialists might feel inclined to interpret that ambivalence as an opportunity. After all, socialist candidates have made waves in recent congressional primaries.

Last week, for instance, three socialists endorsed by Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City defeated their establishment-backed opponents.

Then, on Tuesday in Colorado, 29-year-old socialist Melat Kiros unseated 15-term Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette.

The New York sweep in particular has socialists dreaming of a 2028 presidential run.

As Vice President J.D. Vance noted in a recent interview, that would appear to favor Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a socialist by temperament.

Early 2028 polling has generally shown Ocasio-Cortez, commonly known as AOC, among the Democratic favorites.

Meanwhile, the recent success of socialist candidates augurs poorly for the Democratic Party establishment.

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