The Democrat Party is facing a major predicament: a large majority of the American public thinks they are too liberal, but the center of gravity in the party is farther left than ever before. That’s a bad combination heading into a critical midterm election this November.
As CNN senior data analyst Harry Enten relayed in a recent segment that has now gone viral on social media, the percentage of Americans who say that the Democrat Party is too liberal has climbed to an astonishing 58 percent. In 2013, that figure was 48 percent. In 1996, when Bill Clinton was president, it was just 42 percent.
The poll confirms what conservatives have long alleged – namely, that the political identity of the country has largely remained the same in recent decades, while the Democrat Party has lurched to the left. The results vindicate former Democrats who have defected to the Republican Party, saying, “I didn’t leave the Democrat Party, the Democrat Party left me.”
The growing sentiment that Democrats are too liberal could become a major problem for the party in November as it looks to retake control of Congress. “It’s a problem for Democrats that a majority of the general electorate views the party as ideologically too far to the left,” Nicole Russell wrote in a recent opinion column for USA Today. “The implication for the midterm elections could be huge. If this perception persists, Democrats may still struggle in 2026 and 2028 in suburban swing districts, Rust Belt states and moderate-leaning battleground states that Trump swept in 2024.”
“The Democrats are moving to the left, the far left is gaining power, and there could be some electoral repercussions because what we see right now is voters – the clear majority – say that they are too liberal,” Enten said.
But despite such warnings, those Democrats wringing their hands about the leftward slide of their party appear powerless to stop it. As Enten also relayed, the party’s base has become shockingly left-wing, meaning that moderation isn’t likely anytime soon.
In 1999, according to Gallup, more than one quarter of Democrats – 26 percent – identified as “conservative,” while just five percent identified as “very liberal.” Today, those numbers have flipped, with 21 percent of Democrats identifying as very liberal, while just eight percent say they are conservative.
Perhaps even more astoundingly, the proportion of Democrats who say they are “democratic socialists” has exploded in recent years. Thirty-three percent of Democrats now say they are democratic socialists, as do 42 percent of Democrats under the age of 35. In other words, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Zohran Mamdani are not the outliers anymore – their ideology is now the beating heart of the party.
“[The] far left has gained considerably in power,” Enten said. “What happened in New York City is not an aberration.”
This move toward the radical left is currently playing out in Democrat primary battles throughout the country. Enten’s report was aired within the context of progressive activist Analilia Mejia defeating former Democrat Rep. Tom Malinowski in a special primary election for New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill’s old district in Congress. Mejia, who was initially viewed as a long-shot underdog, defeated the more established Malinowski with backing from Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez.
That result, Enten said, “speaks to a larger point” of the rapidly shrinking power of moderate and even liberal Democrats within the party. Now, it is the far-left socialist wing that is ascendant.
Even those Democrats who ran as moderates are clearly feeling the pressure from the progressive base.
In the political battleground of Virginia, new Governor Abigail Spanberger – whom some pundits believe has an eye on a bid for the White House in 2028 – has taken a hard-left turn since her swearing-in ceremony last month. As one of her first acts in office, Spanberger reversed an executive order from former Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin requiring local police departments to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Spanberger has also flip-flopped on her prior opposition to gerrymandering and is now in support of an effort by Democrats in the general assembly to draw a new U.S. House map that gives them a likely 10-1 advantage (the current map is six Democrats and five Republicans, largely mirroring the state’s voting patterns in recent elections).
Clearly, Spanberger believes that any future political ambitions will run through the progressive wing of the Democrat Party that has seen its power increase exponentially in recent years.
But Spanberger and her Democrat colleagues may soon find that their embrace of the far left will only take them so far. While backing socialist policies may win praise from cable news hosts and earn applause from gender theory professors, the American public more broadly is making very clear that they want nothing to do with the new radical direction of the party.
Democrats can only hide in their progressive bubble so long. Eventually, they’ll have to face general election voters – and if the polls are accurate, they may be shocked to find that the country hasn’t joined them on their far-left joyride.
Matt Lamb is an AMAC Newsline contributor and associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
