About a third of Democrats like democratic socialist politicians

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Candidates who identify as democratic socialists have won some high-profile Democratic primary elections over the past month from Washington, D.C., to New York City. But the term itself has relatively modest traction with Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents nationally.

Group	Dislike	Like	Neither like nor dislike	group
All Dem/Lean Dem	11	32	56	total
Conserv/Mod	15	17	66	subset
Liberal	4	52	43	subset

Many Americans – including a 56% majority of Democrats – say they neither like nor dislike political leaders who call themselves democratic socialists, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this year.

About a third of Democrats (32%) say they like leaders who describe themselves this way, while 11% say they dislike these leaders.

The survey, conducted Jan. 20-26, finds that Americans overall tend to dislike more than like leaders who identify as democratic socialists (38% vs. 17%). But a sizable share (43%) say they neither like nor dislike these leaders.

About this research

This Pew Research Center analysis looks at Americans’ views of leaders who identify as democratic socialists.

Why did we do this?

Pew Research Center does research to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important topics. We have studied Americans’ views of politics and major policy issues for decades.

Learn more about Pew Research Center and our politics research.

How did we do this?

We surveyed 8,512 U.S. adults from Jan. 20 to 26, 2026. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel. The survey represents the views of the full U.S. adult population.

Here are the survey questions used for this analysis, the detailed responses and the survey methodology.

Among Democrats, views of democratic socialists differ by ideology:

52% of liberal Democrats say they like leaders who identify as democratic socialists. Only 4% dislike such leaders, while 43% neither like nor dislike them.
Conservative and moderate Democrats are about equally likely to dislike (17%) as to like (15%) these leaders. About two-thirds (66%) say they neither like nor dislike them.

Group	Dislike	Like	Neither like nor dislike	Grouping	sort
All Dem/Lean Dem	11	32	56	party	1
White	10	40	49	race	2
Hispanic	12	20	66	race	3
Black	11	21	65	race	4
Asian*	11	30	56	race	5
Ages 18-29	11	39	48	age	6
30-49	10	35	54	age	7
50-64	12	25	62	age	8
65+	11	27	60	age	9
College+	9	41	48	ed	10
No college degree	11	26	61	ed	11
Upper income	11	40	48	income	12
Middle income	9	34	56	income	13
Lower income	13	24	62	income	14
				time	15
Most of the time	10	44	45	time	15
Some of the time	10	29	59	time	16
Only now and then/Hardly at all	12	18	67	time	17

Democrats’ views on democratic socialists also differ by race and ethnicity, age, education, income, and political engagement. For example, 44% of Democrats who follow what’s happening in the government most of the time say they like such leaders, compared with a much smaller share (18%) of Democrats who follow this topic hardly at all.

Differences by race and ethnicity

White Democrats (40%) are more likely than Asian (30%), Black (21%) and Hispanic Democrats (20%) to like leaders who describe themselves as democratic socialists.

Differences by age

Among Democrats, 39% of those under 30 say they like leaders who identify as democratic socialists, as do 35% of those ages 30 to 49. About a quarter of Democrats ages 50 and older (26%) say they like these leaders.

Differences by education

Democrats with a college degree are more likely than those without one to like leaders who identify as democratic socialists (41% vs. 26%).

Differences by income

Four-in-ten upper-income Democrats like leaders who identify as democratic socialists. Smaller shares of those with middle (34%) and lower incomes (24%) say the same.

Across each of these demographic groups, roughly one-in-ten Democrats say they dislike these types of leaders, even as there are meaningful differences in the shares saying they like them or neither like nor dislike them

How Pew Research Center’s typology groups view democratic socialists

Pew Research Center’s 2026 political typology presents a nuanced look at how different political groups in the public see these types of leaders. The political typology classifies the public into nine groups based on their political and cultural values, rather than their party identification.

What is the political typology?

Pew Research Center’s 2026 political typology divides the American public into nine political groups based on responses to 30 questions about people’s social and political values and beliefs.

The goal of the long-standing project is to go beyond partisan leanings or vote choices to provide a deeper understanding of the American political landscape. Our first political typology was created nearly 40 years ago; the 2026 typology is the ninth version.

For more on the political typology, read the report or take the typology quiz to find out which group is your best match.

Two typology groups that have more consistently liberal views – Leftward Progressives and Loyal Liberals – are especially likely to view democratic socialists positively. About two-thirds of Leftward Progressives (66%) and about half of Loyal Liberals (53%) say they like these leaders. Together, these typology groups make up 17% of the public and 35% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.

Group	Dislike	Like	Neither like nor dislike	grouping	Order
Total	38	17	43	total	1
Rep/Lean Rep	69	3	27	party	2
Dem/Lean Dem	11	32	56	party	3
				typo	4
Leftward Progressives	2	66	31	typo	5
Loyal Liberals	5	53	41	typo	6
Left-Out Left	14	22	60	typo	7
Order and Opportunity Left	15	11	69	typo	8
Tuned-Out Middle	21	15	59	typo	9
Pragmatic and Polite Right	46	4	47	typo	10
Unconventional Right	61	4	34	typo	11
Faith First Conservatives	83	1	15	typo	12
No Apologies Right	95	1	4	typo	13

Much smaller shares of two other largely Democratic-oriented typology groups – Left-Out Left (22%) and Order and Opportunity Left (11%) – say they like leaders who describe themselves this as democratic socialists. Majorities in both groups say they neither like nor dislike such leaders, while about 15% each dislike them. Together, these typology groups make up 30% of the public and 42% of the Democratic coalition.

All typology groups on the ideological right view these types of leaders more negatively than positively. But that sentiment is particularly pronounced among the most conservative and politically attentive groups: No Apologies Right and Faith First Conservatives.

Curious about where you fit in the political typology? Take our quiz.

Note: Here are the survey questions used for this analysis, the detailed responses and the survey methodology.

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