Well folks, the Democratic Party is going through what you might call a political identity crisis, and the results are absolutely fascinating. According to a recent CNN poll by SSRS, roughly a third of Democrats and people who lean that way now slap the "democratic socialist" label on themselves. That is a whole lot of people who apparently looked at the party menu and said, "I will take the furthest left option, please."
This ideological glow up started picking up steam after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani beat former Governor Andrew Cuomo last year. Since then, candidates waving the democratic socialist flag have been knocking off incumbents like dominoes, including Reps. Adriano Espaillat in New York and Diana DeGette over in Colorado. Apparently, nothing says "job security" in Democratic politics quite like watching your primary challenger run to your left and win.
And it might not stop there. Over in Wisconsin, democratic socialist Francesca Hong is currently leading polling in the gubernatorial primary. Wisconsin. A battleground state. So this is not just a Brooklyn coffee shop phenomenon anymore.
So who exactly are these socialist leaning voters? The poll painted quite the picture. They skew younger, with 59% being under 45. They are more likely to be White at 57%. They are actually less likely to hold a college degree, with 66% lacking one compared to 54% of their non socialist Democratic counterparts. And 76% of them pull in less than six figures annually. Basically, they are young, fired up, and their bank accounts are not exactly overflowing, which, honestly, tracks pretty well with the whole socialism thing.
Here is the kicker on motivation: 66% of registered democratic socialist voters say they are extremely pumped to vote this year, compared to 57% of regular Democrats. And both groups overwhelmingly back Democratic congressional candidates, with socialists going 99% and non socialists at 94%. That is near unanimous, which is the kind of unity most political parties can only dream about.
On the Israel question, things get spicy. Nearly half of democratic socialists, 48%, said they would be enthusiastic about a candidate wanting to reduce support for Israel. Only 20% of non socialist Democrats felt the same way. This has become a major flashpoint in primaries since the war in Gaza kicked off.
Perhaps most eye opening, 64% of non socialist Democratic adults said they would be at least comfortable nominating a democratic socialist for president. So the broader party is not exactly slamming the door on the idea.
But before anyone gets too comfortable, the Democratic Socialists of America platform includes some proposals that are, shall we say, constitutionally ambitious. We are talking about defunding police, eliminating prisons, fully open borders, and essentially dismantling the presidency, the Senate, and the Supreme Court in favor of an all powerful "people's Congress." None of that could happen without fundamentally rewriting the Constitution, which is kind of like saying your home renovation plan involves replacing the foundation while everyone is still living inside.
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