Over a Quarter of Voters Say They’re Supporters of DSA, Polling Finds

By Sharon Zhang

This article was originally published by Truthout

More than a quarter of U.S. voters, including the majority of Democrats, identify as supporters of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), new polling finds as left-wing ideology surges in popularity despite the Trump administration’s attempts to quash it.

Quinnipiac University finds that 26 percent of registered voters say they consider themselves supporters of DSA, the largest socialist group in the U.S. This includes 59 percent of Democrats and 22 percent of independents. Only 30 percent of Democrats say they do not consider themselves as such.

The polling further found that the MAGA ideology has more negative sentiment attached to it than democratic socialism. More than half — 51 percent — of voters said that they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who backs MAGA, while 43 percent said the same about a democratic socialist. 

Meanwhile, 39 percent of Democrats said they’d be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports democratic socialism, while only 11 percent said they’d be less likely and 43 percent said it made no difference.

This is the latest survey to find that democratic socialism, once considered fringe, is on the rise among the public. CNN found in polling in July that a third of Democrats not only support groups like DSA, but also that they personally identify as a democratic socialist. Polling has historically found, meanwhile, that proposals championed by democratic socialists like Medicare for All are popular among the public.

This election cycle has seen a surge in wins for DSA-aligned candidates. New York DSA-backed candidates and DSA member Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon pulled off stunning upsets in this year’s primary elections. 

Just this week in Providence, Rhode Island, democratic socialist David Morales defeated incumbent Mayor Brett Smiley in the Democratic primary. Morales’s campaign focused largely on housing affordability, and delivered him a nearly 5-point win over Smiley, who recently vetoed a rent control ordinance.

The surging popularity of democratic socialists and progressive candidates comes as voters are increasingly dissatisfied with the status quo. 

An Economist/YouGov poll also released this week found, for instance, that 64 percent of voters say that the U.S. political system “needs to be completely rebuilt” or requires “major changes.” Only 9 percent said it works fine in its current state.

As establishment Democrats have failed to meaningfully combat the Trump administration, meanwhile, polling last year by Reuters/Ipsos found that 62 percent of Democratic respondents said that the party’s leaders should be replaced, while only 24 percent said they disagreed.

The left-wing rise also comes despite the Trump administration and establishment politicians’ efforts to suppress such sentiment. The Trump administration has taken steps to criminalize left-wing groups and individuals who express anti-capitalist or anti-American sentiment in its wide-ranging campaign to target the left. Many establishment Democrats have been aligned with these causes, working fiercely to suppress left-wing dissent even as it grows within their own caucus.

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