A new Quinnipiac University poll shows nearly six in ten Democrats consider themselves supporters of the Democratic Socialists of America, a number that puts hard figures behind what Republican leaders have warned is a leftward lurch inside the party.
The poll, conducted September 3, 6 among 970 registered voters across the contiguous United States, found that 59 percent of self-identified Democrats say they are DSA supporters. Only 30 percent of Democrats said they do not consider themselves supporters of the group. Among all voters surveyed, just 26 percent expressed support for the DSA, while 66 percent said they do not back the organization, the Daily Caller reported.
The gap between the Democratic base and the broader electorate is stark. While a majority of Democrats embrace the DSA label, 43 percent of all voters said a candidate identifying as a DSA supporter would make them less likely to vote for that person. Only 17 percent said it would make them more likely, and 35 percent said it would make no difference. The poll carried a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points, including the design effect.
Those numbers land at a moment when DSA-aligned candidates are not just running, they are winning.
In recent months, democratic socialist candidates have racked up primary victories in four states. Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York, Melat Kiros in Colorado, and Donavan McKinney in Michigan each defeated sitting Democratic lawmakers. Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania and Claire Valdez in New York won open-seat races.
Those wins follow a pattern that has rattled Democratic leadership. Earlier this year, socialist-backed candidates toppled Democratic incumbents in New York, prompting pointed reactions from party figures who saw the results as a warning sign for the establishment wing.
The DSA itself has been open about its ambitions. In an October 2025 post on X, the organization urged followers to donate, writing:
"Our candidates are going up against corporate backed opponents, and they're going to need your help to get over the finish line this November."
That appeal framed the party's own moderates as the opposition, "corporate backed opponents", rather than Republicans. It is a revealing choice of language from an organization that now claims majority support among the Democratic base.
The polling data arrived months after the DSA released a formal platform in June titled "Workers Deserve More." The document proposes, in part, to "draft a new constitution, and create a democratic socialist republic." That language drew sharp criticism from congressional Republicans.
House Speaker Mike Johnson responded on X on June 27, calling the platform out directly. Johnson has used DSA primary wins to frame Democrats as a party without a leader, and his post made the broader argument explicit:
"The DSA Communists have now published their insane agenda to take over Congress and America. We will not let it happen! WE ARE READY FOR THIS FIGHT!!"
Johnson's language was blunt. But the poll numbers suggest the concern behind it is grounded in measurable reality: an organization that openly advocates replacing the U.S. Constitution now commands majority support among voters in one of the two major parties.
Not every Democrat has stayed quiet about the shift. Some moderates have pushed back against the DSA's growing influence. Sen. John Fetterman, for instance, has publicly called out the party's far-left flank after socialist candidates swept primaries earlier this year.
The Quinnipiac numbers reveal a party whose base has moved far faster than the general electorate is willing to follow. When 43 percent of all voters say a DSA affiliation makes them less likely to support a candidate, more than double the 17 percent who say it makes them more likely, the electoral math is not kind to the socialist brand outside deep-blue districts.
That tension explains why the DSA's primary-election success has not translated into a broader national mandate. Democratic socialist candidates can win in places where the primary is the only election that matters. Competing for swing voters in a general election is a different problem entirely.
A separate survey by DSA North Star found that DSA supporters generally have high levels of education but tend to fall within lower- to middle-income brackets. The profile suggests an activist base driven more by ideological commitment than by the bread-and-butter economic pressures the "Workers Deserve More" platform claims to address.
Meanwhile, the broader Democratic establishment has struggled to draw a clear line. Some party leaders have refused to reject the DSA platform outright, arguing instead that Democrats need to stay unified, even with candidates who want to rewrite the Constitution.
That reluctance is not new. Years earlier, 192 House Democrats refused to condemn socialism in a party-line vote weeks before a midterm election. The Quinnipiac poll suggests the reason was not a miscalculation, it was an accurate reading of where their voters were heading.
The Daily Caller News Foundation sent a request for comment to the DSA. The organization did not immediately respond.
The silence is consistent with the DSA's broader strategy: let the numbers and the primary wins speak for themselves. When 59 percent of a major party's voters identify with your movement, you do not need to argue your case in the press. You just need to keep winning primaries.
And that is the problem for anyone who thinks the American constitutional order is worth keeping as written. A party that cannot, or will not, draw a line against an organization that explicitly wants to replace the Constitution is a party that has already made its choice. The poll just confirmed it.
