A new national Quinnipiac University survey found that 59% of Democratic registered voters consider themselves supporters of the Democratic Socialists of America, even as the organization remains substantially less popular among registered voters overall.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
A majority of Democratic registered voters now describe themselves as supporters of the Democratic Socialists of America, according to a new national poll released Thursday, adding new data to an ongoing debate over the socialist organization’s influence within Democratic politics following a series of congressional primary victories by DSA-backed candidates.
The Quinnipiac University survey found that 59% of Democrats surveyed considered themselves supporters of the DSA, while 30% said they did not. Across the entire pool of registered voters, however, support was considerably lower: 26% identified themselves as DSA supporters and 66% said they did not.
The numbers also showed that association with democratic socialism remains a liability among registered voters overall. When respondents were asked whether a candidate identifying as a Democratic Socialist supporter would affect their vote, 17% said the designation would make them more likely to support the candidate, 43% said it would make them less likely and 35% said it would make no difference.
The poll measured whether respondents considered themselves political supporters of the organization; it did not ask whether they were formal DSA members.
Quinnipiac conducted the national survey from Sept. 3 through Sept. 6 across the contiguous United States, surveying 970 self-identified registered voters. The poll carried a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points, including the design effect.
The DSA did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.
The findings come after several candidates aligned with democratic socialism recorded significant Democratic primary victories in recent months, including challengers who defeated sitting Democratic members of Congress.
Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated an incumbent Democrat in New York, Melat Kiros defeated an incumbent in Colorado and Donavan McKinney ousted an incumbent Democratic lawmaker in Michigan. Other DSA-aligned candidates advanced in open-seat contests, including Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania and Claire Valdez in New York.
Those races have placed additional attention on the DSA’s role in Democratic primaries and on the organization’s ability to recruit candidates, organize volunteers and challenge candidates associated with the party’s established leadership.
The organization has explicitly presented electoral campaigns as part of a broader effort to elect candidates aligned with its political objectives. In an Oct. 3, 2025, post on X, the DSA appealed to supporters for assistance ahead of the general election.
“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,” the DSA said.
Available demographic information about DSA supporters also indicates a membership and support base characterized by comparatively high educational attainment but concentrated largely within lower- and middle-income brackets, according to the most recent survey published by DSA North Star.
The organization’s growing electoral profile has coincided with the release of a sweeping national political program detailing what the DSA says it ultimately wants to accomplish in American government and the economy.
In June, the organization unveiled its new “Workers Deserve More” platform, which outlines proposals ranging from universal health care and public ownership of major industries to fundamental changes in the structure of the federal government. Among its broader stated objectives, the program says supporters should seek to “draft a new constitution, and create a democratic socialist republic.”
The platform describes the DSA as working to construct what it calls “a party whose goal is a democratic society of the working class” and argues that achieving its objectives ultimately requires restructuring existing political and economic institutions. It states that some policies could be enacted under the current system while contending that complete implementation of its vision would require “building a new society from the ground up.”
Its proposals encompass an extensive range of domestic, economic and governmental changes. The program calls for publicly owned social housing, universal health care without individual costs, a 32-hour workweek with full pay and benefits, tuition-free public education through college, cancellation of student debt, universal rent control, a federal jobs guarantee and public ownership of major corporations and essential industries.
The DSA also calls for significant changes to federal political institutions. Its platform advocates abolishing the Electoral College and Senate, replacing the current two-party system with a multiparty system, expanding the House of Representatives, implementing proportional representation and ranked-choice voting, and replacing the existing relationship among the presidency, Supreme Court and Congress with an executive and judiciary subordinate to Congress.
Other proposals include granting voting rights to permanent U.S. residents, restoring voting rights to incarcerated people and people with criminal convictions, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, eliminating qualified immunity, moving toward abolition of the police and prison system, closing overseas military bases and transitioning major industries toward public ownership.
The platform’s release generated criticism from Republican members of Congress, including additional public objections to the organization’s proposed changes to the country’s political and economic structure.
House Speaker Mike Johnson also attacked the platform shortly after its release, describing the DSA’s proposals in stark terms in a June 27 post on X.
“The DSA Communists have now published their insane agenda to take over Congress and America,” Johnson wrote. “We will not let it happen! WE ARE READY FOR THIS FIGHT!!”
The DSA describes its program differently, saying its objectives are intended to transfer greater economic and political power to workers, expand public ownership and substantially restructure American democratic institutions. Its stated program says the organization is seeking a “democratic socialist republic” and considers its current policy demands steps toward a broader socialist political and economic system.
The new Quinnipiac results show a sharp distinction between attitudes within the Democratic electorate and those of registered voters overall. While nearly six in 10 Democrats surveyed identified themselves as DSA supporters, roughly two-thirds of all registered voters said they did not support the organization, and more voters said a candidate’s identification with democratic socialism would decrease rather than increase their likelihood of voting for that candidate.
Combined with the recent primary victories of DSA-aligned candidates and the organization’s newly published national program, the polling provides another measure of the DSA’s expanding presence within Democratic politics while also showing that support for the group remains a minority position among registered voters nationwide.
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