A DHM Research poll of 915 likely voters commissioned by OPB and conducted September 17–27 put Republican Christine Drazan at 47% and Gov. Tina Kotek at 46% after leaners were pushed, with a 3.24% margin of error. Asked the state’s top problem, 52% of respondents named cost of living, housing affordability, high tax rates or the job market; pollster John Horvick said homelessness, crime and drug use had topped voter concerns four years earlier. Kotek drew 54% of tri-county Portland-area voters, down from roughly 61% in 2022.
Polls in late June and early September showed Drazan ahead by 4 and 2 points respectively.
A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Times, released September 23, put Councilmember Nithya Raman at 39% and Mayor Karen Bass at 28% among likely Los Angeles voters, with 33% undecided. The online survey of 2,150 likely city voters ran September 15-20 with a margin of error of about 3 points. Bass's unfavorable rating was 63%; the poll listed moving homeless people indoors and building more affordable housing among voters' top issues.
St. Louis Magazine · on outreach along South Grand after the CID letter
Two weeks after the South Grand Community Improvement District issued and then retracted a letter telling businesses not to give water to unhoused people and to call 911, Peter and Paul Community Services and the city's Continuum of Care increased outreach along the corridor, where providers estimate one to two dozen people live unsheltered. Alderwomen Daniela Velazquez and Alisha Sonnier said they would use their ex-officio seats to oversee the CID board, and Sonnier said she is exploring pooling several CIDs' funds for a full-time social worker. Human services director Adam Pearson said shelters have been running near full.
A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Times put Councilmember Nithya Raman at 39% and Mayor Karen Bass at 28% among likely Los Angeles voters, with 33% undecided; it surveyed 2,150 likely city voters online September 15–20. Bass's favorability was 28% favorable to 63% unfavorable, and Raman's 40% to 39%. IGS director Mark DiCamillo said "Raman clearly has the advantage" and called the share of undecided voters "extraordinarily unusual" this close to an election.
Bass finished first in the June 2 primary, 34% to Raman's 29%; mail ballots for the November 3 runoff go out beginning October 1.
Gallup reported that 43% of Americans held a positive view of socialism in its August survey, the first reading above 39% since the trend began in 2010, while capitalism held at 55% and big business fell to 35%. Gallup attributed the year-over-year rise entirely to independents, whose positive rating went from 37% to 45%, with Democrats flat at 65% and Republicans at 14%; Democrats' positive rating of capitalism fell from 42% to 35%. Among adults 18 to 34, Gallup found socialism rated more positively than capitalism, 57% to 43%.
The poll is based on ReconMR telephone interviews August 3–24 with 1,200 adults, margin of error ±4 points.
The New York Times · on the New York Times/Siena poll putting El-Sayed at 49% to Rogers's 44%
A New York Times/Siena University poll found Abdul El-Sayed leading Mike Rogers 49% to 44%, with El-Sayed viewed favorably by 47% to Rogers's 39%. The Times reported that 50% of voters called El-Sayed the more extreme candidate against 36% for Rogers, that Rogers led by nine points among voters 45 and older, and that El-Sayed led by 39 points among voters 44 and younger. 62% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters said the primary "made the party stronger."
A Suffolk University poll of 500 likely voters conducted September 16–20 had El-Sayed 47% to 40%, and Sabato's Crystal Ball moved the race from Toss-up to Leans Democratic on September 22.
NBC News reported that its September national survey found voter concern about capitalism rising while voters "remain wary of socialism and the Democratic Socialists of America," and that more voters under 30 held positive views of socialism than of capitalism for the first time in its polling. Voz, reporting the poll's toplines, put socialism at 52% negative to 21% positive among registered voters, the DSA at 50% negative to 22% favorable, and capitalism at 48% positive to 29% negative, down from 52% positive in 2018; among voters 18 to 29 it reported the negative view of capitalism rising from 22% in 2018 to 47% and the positive view of socialism from 28% to 42%. Half of voters said they would be less likely to back a candidate who supported many DSA proposals, against 31% more likely.
The poll was fielded September 11–15 with a margin of error of ±3.1 points; NBC's article links the poll document on DocumentCloud.
Stetson University Center for Public Opinion Research
Stetson's survey of 830 Floridians, conducted online September 14–21, found Sen. Ashley Moody at 51% and Angie Nixon at 40%, with 3% for another candidate and 5% undecided; the release said the results include undecided voters who named a candidate they leaned toward. Stetson reported Moody's support unchanged from its spring survey at 51%, Nixon's up from 38% to 40%, and that 32% of Floridians had never heard of Nixon while 25% knew her and rejected her. Political scientist Kelly Smith wrote that the Republican leads "rest on genuine support, not just negative partisanship."
An InsiderAdvantage poll of 600 likely voters conducted September 20–21 had Moody at 49% to Nixon's 42%.
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.
Deseret News · on the Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll on democratic socialism
The Deseret News reported that a Morning Consult survey for the Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics found just under two-thirds of Democratic voters nationally, and almost three-quarters in Utah, held a favorable view of candidates calling themselves democratic socialists. It reported that 7 in 10 Democratic voters with four years of college supported democratic socialism as an economic system against 52% of those without, that more than 64% of Democratic voters 18 to 34 supported "socialism" as an economic system, and that among all voters 55% supported capitalism, 29% opposed it, and the "democratic socialist" label was viewed favorably by 39%. Asked what the term meant, 22% of voters said universal healthcare and a stronger safety net and 22% said they did not know.
The national sample is 2,102 registered voters surveyed September 10–14 (±2 points); the Utah sample is 744 voters (±4 points).
Smart Cities Dive · on the U.S. Conference of Mayors affordability survey of 113 mayors
A U.S. Conference of Mayors survey found 96% of responding mayors said residents are very or extremely concerned about affordability, with 96% naming housing costs as the biggest concern, followed by groceries (55%) and utilities (40%). Fifty-six percent of mayors reported increased homelessness and evictions, and nearly 93% said the cost of living in their city rose in the past year. The Conference said it launched a national affordability tour on September 25, with a first stop in Albuquerque on October 8.
The Conference of Mayors said the survey was fielded August 18 to September 4 and drew responses from 113 cities; it released the results September 18.
A Times/Siena national poll of likely voters found 51 percent held an unfavorable view of socialism and 31 percent a favorable one, while 44 percent said it did not matter to them either way if a Democratic candidate ran as a democratic socialist. The poll found 18 percent of voters considered themselves democratic socialists, and 55 percent of Democratic voters viewed socialism favorably, up from 50 percent in the May Times/Siena poll. The Times' reporters wrote that the movement "remains unpopular with much of America" despite its primary victories.
The poll surveyed 1,503 voters September 8–13, with a margin of error of ±2.9 points among the likely electorate; the May Times/Siena poll surveyed registered rather than likely voters.
A St. Pete Polls survey of 913 likely Florida voters conducted September 15–17 put Sen. Ashley Moody at 45.2 percent to Nixon's 44.8 percent, within the poll's 3.2-point margin of error — the second poll showing the special election effectively tied, after a Change Research survey conducted September 7–9 had the race at 47–47. The RealClearPolling average has Moody at 48.3 percent to Nixon's 43.3 percent.
No Democrat has won a statewide race in Florida since 2018; the special election is November 3, 2026.
A KSTP/SurveyUSA poll released this week showed Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Republican Michele Tafoya essentially tied in the Minnesota Senate race, with 12 percent of voters undecided and 4 percent supporting other candidates; the same poll a month earlier had Flanagan up 5 points. The poll was released days before Minnesota early voting begins. Flanagan led among moderate voters by 15 points, with 17 percent of that group undecided.
The prior KSTP/SurveyUSA poll was taken after the August 11 primary.
Jacobin published the second study from the Center for Working-Class Politics and Joan C. Williams, a survey experiment fielded April–June 2026 in which more than 40,000 respondents evaluated nearly 800,000 hypothetical candidate profiles. The report finds that a six-part formula leading with working-class economics added 10.9 points to Democrats' vote share among working-class voters and about 7.8 points among college-educated Democrats, and that a $17 minimum wage outperformed $15 by 2 points among the 45 economic policies tested. The study was produced by Jacobin with support from the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.
The study follows "The Left's Coalition Crisis," released earlier in summer 2026 by the Center for Working-Class Politics and the Equality Action Center.
A CNN/SSRS poll of 843 Michigan likely voters conducted August 31–September 6 put Abdul El-Sayed at 47% and Mike Rogers at 44%, inside the poll's 4.1-point margin of error. Fifty percent of voters called El-Sayed's positions too liberal, against 42% who called Rogers too conservative. Black likely voters backed El-Sayed 77% to 10%, and 40% of Black voters and of voters under 35 said they had not firmly decided.
El-Sayed lost Wayne County, home to Detroit, by roughly 17,000 votes in the August Democratic primary against Haley Stevens.
In a Cato at Liberty post, Ryan Bourne and Nathan Miller argued that rising favorability toward the DSA has not translated into support for collective ownership. Citing July polling by The Argument, they wrote that government ownership of the means of production draws support from 11 percent of voters with 79 percent opposed. They also cited Gallup finding support for socialism rose from 36 percent in 2010 to 39 percent in 2025, and Cato's own July polling finding 61 percent of Democrats more likely to back a democratic-socialist presidential candidate.
The nationalization figures come from July 2026 polling by The Argument, whose DSA-favorability crosstabs were shared with Cato.
The Hill reported that Democratic strategists worry the party's association with democratic socialism is hampering efforts to win back Hispanic voters lost since 2024, particularly older voters with roots in Cuba and Venezuela. It cited a Pew Research Center survey finding 20 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning Hispanic voters view political leaders who identify as democratic socialists favorably, compared with 21 percent of Black Democrats, 30 percent of Asian Democrats and 40 percent of white Democrats. Strategists quoted in the piece said the label could persist into the 2028 presidential race even if Democrats prevail in the midterms.
The Pew survey the piece cites was conducted January 20–26, 2026.
The Free Press · on a Populace–Free Press survey on private opinions of capitalism and socialism
Mene Ukueberuwa presented findings from the second wave of the Honesty Project, a Free Press survey partnership with the think tank Populace that compares what respondents say publicly with what they report privately. The piece reported that 83 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of liberals are privately open to being represented by a democratic socialist, and characterized the results as showing the public feeling down about capitalism while remaining wary of full-blown socialism.
The Center Square's Sarah Roderick-Fitch reported that the outlet's Voters' Voice Poll, conducted by Noble Predictive Insights August 12–16 among 2,533 registered voters, found 63% of Americans concerned with the growth of socialism or communism in American politics against 29% not concerned; among Democratic voters, 49% were concerned and 40% were not. The piece placed the numbers alongside an August CBS News poll, cited by Sen. John Fetterman, that found nearly 60% of Democrats view socialism positively.
The poll's sample of 2,533 comprised 930 Republicans, 930 Democrats, and 673 independents, with a margin of error of ±2.0%.
Newsweek reported that August Siena polling found Mayor Zohran Mamdani viewed favorably by 69 percent of New York City voters but 34 percent favorable and 60 percent unfavorable in the downstate suburbs, with DSA favorability at 16 percent among suburban voters against 49 percent in the city. The piece attributed the gap in part to housing tenure — 32.8 percent owner-occupancy in the city versus 81.9 percent in Nassau County.
A November 2025 Siena poll put Mamdani at 55-31 percent favorable in New York City and 31-49 percent in the downstate suburbs.
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.
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.
A Fox News poll of 1,006 Michigan registered voters, conducted Aug. 6–10 by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research, found Republican Mike Rogers at 51 percent and Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed at 47 percent, within the margin of sampling error. The poll found 98 percent of DSA supporters backing El-Sayed, falling to 69 percent among non-DSA Democrats and independents. It also found 54 percent of the electorate concerned El-Sayed's positions are too extreme and 51 percent concerned Rogers is too close to Trump.
Trump carried Michigan in 2016 and 2024 by less than 2 points each time; Biden won it by nearly 3 points in 2020.
CBS News' polling unit reported an Aug. 12–14 survey finding Americans overall net-negative on socialism and more positive on capitalism, while Democrats rated socialism more favorably than capitalism. The poll found the "democratic socialist" label viewed positively by half the party, more among younger and more liberal Democrats, and Democrats split about evenly on whether the party is progressive enough.
The poll was fielded Aug. 12–14, 2026 among 2,287 U.S. adults with a margin of error of ±2.6 points.
A Badger Battleground poll of 500 likely voters conducted Aug. 12–13 found Democrat David Crowley at 48 percent and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany at 44 percent in Wisconsin's governor's race, a 4-point lead within the poll's ±4.4-point margin of error. Among independents, Crowley led 42 percent to 30 percent. The survey followed Crowley's primary win over democratic socialist Francesca Hong.
CNBC reported the first edition of its Generation Lab poll of 1,088 Americans aged 18–34: 46% held a "favorable" or "very favorable" view of democratic socialism against 23% unfavorable. The poll also found nearly 80% of respondents negative on the economy, and 45% naming housing their biggest financial pressure point.
This was the survey's first edition, with no prior wave for comparison; the margin of error was 2.97 percentage points.
CBS News Minnesota · on Republican response to the Flanagan-Tafoya Senate matchup
CBS reported Minnesota Republicans expressed optimism about the general election after Michele Tafoya's primary win, with conservative Star Tribune columnist Andy Brehm saying, "Finally, Minnesota Republicans nominate winners." Tafoya said she is "not running to answer to party bosses, or to lobbyists or to special interests, or even to a president." In the primary, 211,000 voters cast ballots for Tafoya against 411,000 for Peggy Flanagan.
Minnesota has not elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006.
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.