In Jacobin, Branko Marcetic argued that recent polls show socialism's appeal is broader than the "young, well-off, and highly educated white progressives" it says the general narrative assigns it, citing Gallup's 43% positive rating and its rise among independents to 45%, and New York Times/Siena crosstabs in which white voters rated socialism least favorably while Black and Latino voters were at +4 each. He argued the relevant comparison is the MAGA movement, which he said had a 24% positive rating in April 2023 before winning in 2024. He contrasted that with DSA's membership, which he said the organization's internal polling put at 60% white, down from 85% five years ago.
The piece draws on the Gallup August 3–24 survey, a New York Times/Siena national likely-voter poll, and a Liberal Currents/Center for Strategic Politics survey of 683 Democratic voters published September 21.
Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said at a Capitol news conference on September 23 that "the candidate in Florida, she's a card-carrying member of the Democrat Socialists of America" and described the election as a "clear choice between Republican, common-sense individuals, and these crazy, radical Democrats." Nixon responded on CBS News 24/7 the next day that "this is not about three letters" and "If it wasn't DSA, they would be attacking me on something." She said her campaign was about health care access, affordable housing, universal child care and "lowering the costs."
On September 22 Nixon resolved her May Capitol trespassing case without a guilty plea, with a $250 fine and 15 hours of community service, according to The 19th.
Block Club Chicago's Quinn Myers reported that Chicago DSA's membership has grown to 3,200 people, about 1,000 of them added over the past year, while national DSA membership passed 120,000 in July. The chapter declined to endorse incumbent alderpeople Jeanette Taylor and Daniel La Spata; Taylor called the group "anti-Black," and WTTW News reporting cited in the piece said the chapter dropped La Spata after he declined to identify as "anti-Zionist." Critics quoted in the piece attributed the friction to weak coalition-building across the city's neighborhoods.
Six DSA-backed candidates were elected to Chicago's 50-member City Council in 2023, matching the caucus's 2019 total.
In the Guardian, Alice Speri reported that left-of-center candidates in the 2026 midterms differ in their relationships to DSA, sorting them into longtime organizers such as New York's Claire Valdez, non-members who share the group's priorities such as Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed, and longtime socialists who joined only recently such as Colorado's Melat Kiros and Pennsylvania's Chris Rabb. The piece cited DSA membership of 120,000 and a poll it said found one-third of Democrats identify as "socialist." It reported that after DSA candidates won nine of ten races the group contested in New York City in June, Third Way announced a $15 million effort against them.
The Drift · on NYC-DSA governance tensions under the Mamdani administration
In The Drift, Piper French reported on NYC-DSA's first eight months with Zohran Mamdani in City Hall, describing disputes inside the chapter over housing policy, policing, and an October 2025 resolution that put supporting the mayor "before the task of critique." The piece said NYC-DSA has more than doubled since the 2024 election cycle began to some 15,000 members, that DSA counts 120,000 members nationally, and that the Socialist Majority and Groundwork caucuses hold 53 of the chapter's 71 citywide leadership seats. French wrote that the chapter issued its first public statement criticizing Mamdani in June, over the police commissioner's announcement that the NYPD would hire 580 new officers; the piece said Mamdani backtracked five days later.
NYC-DSA adopted a resolution in October 2025 putting support for the incoming administration "before the task of critique."
DSA told members that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "recently rejoined in August 2026" after her 2018 annual membership lapsed in 2019 and was never renewed. The organization said it disclosed her membership history because chapters are campaigning to draft her as a 2028 presidential primary candidate; DSA chapters in Los Angeles and Atlanta have passed resolutions calling on her to run.
DSA plans to begin its formal presidential endorsement process early next year, and its national leadership is split on whether to endorse her.
In The American Prospect, David Duhalde, a democratic socialist organizer who has held positions in DSA and the DSA Fund, argued that DSA's membership of 120,000 reflects the death of civic society in the United States rather than the organization's limitations, and that the figure understates DSA's strength because DSA requires dues while peer organizations count free email sign-ups. He wrote that DSA "looks to be sending nearly half a dozen comrades to Congress next year."
The piece is a direct response to Harold Meyerson's August 10 Prospect essay "Why Have Less Than One Percent of American Socialists Joined DSA?"
A PolitiFact fact-check carried by WLRN examined Sen. Ashley Moody's claim that Nixon's DSA membership means she supports "Defund the police, don't fund our military, open up the border, noncitizen voting," and found no evidence Nixon has supported defunding police or the military. Nixon said, "I don't support defunding the police. I do support comprehensive criminal justice reform to make sure we are addressing some of the root causes." The check reported that Nixon joined DSA in June 2026.
DSA does not require members to support all of the organization's positions.
Axios reported that although Nixon's win is being cast as a DSA victory, the national organization neither endorsed her nor anticipated the result, and that Nixon joined DSA during her campaign. Axios quoted Nixon saying "I don't campaign as a member of any organization" and "I don't believe in labels," and reported she joined to tap into DSA's grassroots organizational network and supports its positions on housing, public education, corporate power, and Medicare for All.
A Brookings count of the 2026 cycle identified 282 DSA-chapter-endorsed candidates, 29 of them carrying national DSA endorsements.
In a longform New York Times Magazine piece, Charles Homans reported on DSA's growth from fewer than 7,000 members in 2015 to the 120,000 announced in early July, and on the dispute between party moderates and socialists over the label's general-election viability. The piece cited a Gallup poll from last August finding 57 percent of people view socialism negatively and a July CNN poll finding a third of Democratic and Democratic-leaning adults identify as democratic socialists; moderates argued a national DSA candidacy would carry that negative label, while socialists countered that the label's general-election weakness is untested.
DSA co-chair Ashik Siddique announced the 120,000-member count in early July 2026.
Peter Sterne reported on an internal NYC-DSA demographic report, compiled from optional surveys members fill out when they join, which found 60% of the chapter's active members identify as white; 63% of its 15,600 members completed the survey. The report also found newer members slightly less white, with 57% of those who joined since Jan. 1, 2026 identifying as white.
DSA's last comprehensive national demographic survey, in 2021, found 85% of nationwide membership identified as white.
The Examiner reported that the San Francisco DSA chapter is the group behind Proposition I, which would dedicate the city's transfer tax on property sales of $10 million or more to a House SF Fund — a shift the City Controller put at nearly $120 million a year. Mayor Daniel Lurie and the city's police and firefighter unions said the measure would create "an unaccountable slush fund." The chapter's dues-paying membership rose more than 28 percent this year to 1,506, and the national organization said in July it had reached 120,000 members.
The transfer tax had raised $504.6 million by February, about $200 million of which initially went to housing-related programs.
In The American Prospect, Harold Meyerson argued that the DSA's roughly 120,000 members represent under 1 percent of the roughly 20 million Americans who describe themselves as democratic socialists, a gap he attributed to what he called the organization's campus-rooted culture and positions such as police abolition. He cited a late-July CNN/SSRS poll finding 34 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners identify as democratic socialists, and a Morning Consult poll for the Cato Institute showing Americans split 37-37 on socialism's favorability.
The membership comparison draws on a late-July CNN/SSRS poll and a July Morning Consult poll for the Cato Institute.