Americans more likely to vote socialist than MAGA as midterms approach: CNBC poll

More US voters would be more likely to support a democratic socialist candidate than a MAGA/Make America Great Again candidate or one that has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, according to a new CNBC poll. This comes after several democratic socialist candidates won Democrat primaries or elections in recent months.

The primary wins from candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, including Zohran Mamdani and others, indicate that the far-left might have an edge in the upcoming midterm elections. The poll also indicates voters are starting to cozy up to the ideas of higher taxes with more social programs.

The poll found that 32 percent of registered voters said they were more likely to vote for a candidate described as a democratic socialist while 50 percent say they were less likely to vote for the democratic socialist. If the candidate was self-described as a supporter of the MAGA movement, only 27 percent of registered voters were more likely to vote for them versus 57 percent saying they were less likely. An endorsement from Trump translated to 29 percent of registered voters to likely voter for them versus 52 percent who said they were less likely.

The poll was conducted between July 8 and 12 with 1,000 registered voters in the country with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.

Those self-described democratic socialists who are set to be on the ballot this year include three candidates from New York an another in Colorado.

Although capitalism is still more popular overall in the US than socialism, the favorability of socialism in the last few years has jumped from 18 percent in 2024 to 28 percent currently. Voters who are aged 18 to 34 preferred socialism by a margin of 18 percent. However, older Americans preferred capitalism.

“If these current attitudes were to persist over time, and the 18-49 year-olds of today were going to keep those types of attitudes, we’re going to have a seismic shift in terms of the national conversation and economic policy prescriptions that we see coming out of Congress and different places over time,” said Micah Roberts, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies, the Republican pollster for the survey. “The attitudes of 18-34 year-olds today are the reality of our country in 20 years."