New polling released this week suggests that a young socialist candidate would defeat a ‘Make America Great Again’ candidate in a hypothetical 2028 presidential matchup, reinforcing a trend that indicates that the momentum of progressive leftists isn’t abating despite a recent setback in Wisconsin.
The Senate currently has 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats, and with 35 seats up for grabs in the 2026 midterms (22 held by Republicans), Democrats can retake control if they get a net gain of just four seats, according to 270toWin.
If the vote for the 2028 election for president were held today, more than half (55%) said they would vote for the socialist candidate. Only a third said they would vote for the MAGA candidate. Another 22% said they were undecided. The poll was done by independent pollster Jeremy Zogby.
Of the voters, even the ‘Men’ group - a group Trump won by 12 points in 2024 - are now more likely to choose the socialist at 42% (compared to the MAGA candidate at 36%).
According to a new CNBC Generation Lab poll of 18- to 34-year-olds, nearly half of younger Americans view democratic socialism positively.
This is far more than those who think that the business community can do no wrong.
Voters generally do not have high trust in big business chief executives. Only 37% of people view CEOs favorably, and fewer than half trust them to do what is right. especially on a new tech like AI. When given the names of nine key people in AI, a majority of respondents said they don’t trust them.
The primaries over the last several months have reflected this feeling. There has been a rise in the number of democratic socialist candidates in states including New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Colorado. A democratic socialist also won a mayoral primary in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.
I doubt very much that this is a rebellion against capitalism per se, but more a desire to see society benefit to a greater extent than is now possible in today’s business oligarchy.
Democratic primaries have been shaped by a progressive revolt against the party establishment. Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier, both endorsed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, respectively defeated incumbent Reps. Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat. In Michigan, state representative Donavan McKinney, backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, unseated Rep. Shri Thanedar. In Colorado, 29-year-old democratic socialist Melat Kiros toppled 15-term Rep. Diana DeGette for the party nomination. Democrats are favored to win all four races, according to Cook Political Report.
In Texas the Senate race between GOP nominee Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico puts Talarico ahead. It is almost a deadlock in the governor’s race between Democrat Gina Hinojosa (45%) and Governor Greg Abbott (46%).
In general, Democrats have always gone for the youth: Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter…people who did not need orange skin.
Not to mention AOC, Talarico, Newsome, Jasmine Crockett…
The NY Post forecasts that a “socialist squad” in the House could double in size in November, going from seven to 14. Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Greg Casar, Summer Lee, Delia Ramirez and Ayanna Pressley formed the original “Squad.” They are likely to be joined by Melat Kiros from Colorado, Adam Hamawy in New Jersey, Frederick Haynes from Texas, Chris Rabb in Philadelphia, Claire Valdez in New York, Darializa Chevalier from Harlam, and William Lawrence in Michigan. This “Socialist Super-Squad” could have huge influence to pass legislation to abolish ICE or impeach someone.
But the age of their Democratic voters themselves is not relevant, says analyst G. Elliott Morris.
“Older Democrats rate Zohran Mamdani at about 72 on the 0-100 “feeling thermometer” scale.
“Young Democrats are at 76 — a difference the poll can’t distinguish from zero.”
The under-thirty crowd of lefty Dems do however rate the establishment politicians worse than other Dems. “Young Democrats rate the party’s other left-wing figures about the same as older Democrats do — but they rate the party’s current management much colder.”
An exception on the age scale is Bernie Sanders - he rates higher than any other current party figure.
While favourability rating is not the same as a primary vote choice, it tells us a lot about the direction of the party and appetite for new, fresh, urgent thinking.
And all this is happening without the impact of any weight from the Epstein files. Things may be about to break open on that front.
A handwritten document is now being circulated (EFTA01682027), as part of the DOJ Epstein file release. The document states that it is the writer’s testimony concerning “the summer of 1967” and contains allegations involving Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.
It was written in cursive.
AI cannot read cursive.
So it was not redacted.
The outlined section reads: “My testimony places Donald J Trump as a person involved in the sell of young women to the sex trafficking ring of Jeffrey Epstein and Saudis…”
More will be released soon.
Perhaps enough to make Trump go like this:
In any event, it looks like the Dems do not even need anther scandal to pop to the surface to replace the Republicans. They will be in control starting in November.
As long as we all vote, of course…
Vote for the young and good-looking people.
This time, it’s not just surface appeal.
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In the coming weeks we will look at WHAT IF THE PRESIDENT IS AN IDIOT – Trump, power and the death of serious politics – How a reality show became a presidency.
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