Joe Simonson on July 26, 2018
If socialist candidates are the future of the Democratic Party, that future won’t be too bright if the findings of a new Hill.TV/Harris X American Barometer poll hold true.
Seventy-six percent of respondents in a recent survey said they would not vote for a “socialist candidate,” while 24 percent of those polled said they have no problem with the hypothetical candidate.
Those results conflict with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez’s prediction that young politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — a dues-paying member of New York City’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America — represent his party’s “future.”
Other primary candidates, like Maine Democratic Senate candidate Zak Ringelstein, who is challenging Sen. Angus King, are running as Democratic Socialists.
Yet not all Democrats are thrilled with this trend.
In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal earlier in July, former Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman cautioned his party about turning too far left.
“The policies Ms. Ocasio-Cortez advocates are so far from the mainstream, her election in November would make it harder for Congress to stop fighting and start fixing problems,” Lieberman wrote.
The Hill.TV/HarrisX poll was conducted between July 21-22 and sampled 1,001 American voters.
