CNN Pollster: Dems Truly Are Going Socialist – And Voters Are Noticing

Since November, one key question has percolated: Was Zohran Mamdani a fluke, or a harbinger? According to CNN poll analyst Harry Enten, the actual answer may be: mainstream. At least among Democrats.

Enten provides context for an upcoming special election for a House seat in New Jersey, where former Rep. Tom Malinowski just dropped out rather than face a “progressive far-Left” Democrat. The Cook index for NJ-11 is only a D+5, suggesting that a more moderate candidate should get more traction. Not in today’s Democrat Party, Enten explained to Kate Bolduan yesterday:

An all-time high, 58%, of voters say the Dem Party is too liberal.

This comes as 1-in-3 Democrats think of themselves as Democratic Socialists!

And the % of Dems who say they’re very liberal has quadrupled since 1999.

NJ-11, NYC mayor & Bernie Sanders are no aberration. pic.twitter.com/J0xuskHgn6

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) February 12, 2026

ENTEN: … Democrats who identify as very liberal or conservative. You know, there used to be a lot of conservative Democrats, right? Back in 1999, 26 percent of Democrats self-identified as conservative Just five percent said that they were very liberal. It was a smidgen, a smidgen, a smidgen. Now, that far left has gained considerably in power. Look at this. Now we’re talking about a fifth of Democrats. 21 percent say they’re very liberal. That conservative part of the Democratic Party, adios amigos, goodbye. Just eight percent. And when you combine the 21 percent who are very liberal with those who say that they’re somewhat liberal, we’re talking about three in five Democrats who identify as either somewhat liberal or very liberal, with the very liberals, a much larger portion of the party, the far left, which used to just be a smidgen within the Democratic Party, has gained considerable power, as you saw in New Jersey’s 11th District.

BOLDUAN: What about Democratic socialists like the likes of, you know, we’ve got Bernie Sanders and — or Zohran Mamdani here in New York City? Where does that line up?

ENTEN: OK. So, on a separate question where you — essentially CNN asked this last year, which was, OK, Democrats who think of themselves as Democratic socialists. Among all Democrats, including those independents who lean towards the Democratic Party, look at this, we’re talking about a third, a third of all Democrats who identify as Democratic socialist. Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani are not alone. They are a considerable part of the Democratic base at this point. And more than that, if you look at Democrats under the age of 35, they are nearly half — nearly half of the Democratic Party. Look at this, 42 percent of Democrats think of themselves as Democratic socialists under the age of 35, just like Zohran Mamdani. That — what happened to New York City is not some aberration, right? It is not something that just happened in New York City. It is something that we are seeing grow within the Democratic Party at this particular point, when we’re talking about 42 percent of Democrats under the age of 35 identifying as Democratic socialists and a third of all Democrats, my goodness gracious.

I often wonder what might have happened in 2015 had Democrats not attempted to cook the primary so as to provide Hillary Clinton a coronation. Joe Biden, whose senility was not as apparent at that time, might have made a run for the nomination from Hillary’s left, but not by much. More centrist Dems may have opted in at the time. Instead of allowing a real competition, though, the Democrat establishment closed ranks around Hillary – much like they would do eight years later for a clearly addled Biden – and shut down the money to any competitors. That left the field open for socialist crank Bernie Sanders, who built a movement that fed on the populist backfire to the establishment’s attempts to throw the primary for Hillary. 

Had Democrats just allowed for a normal open-seat competition, would the Democrat Socialists have made this much progress in taking over the party? Maybe. Academia had been grooming and indoctrinating at least two generations of young adults for that outcome. It may not have come as quickly, however, and Democrat centrists might have retained enough credibility to push back more effectively. As it is, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) appears to be the only such voice left in the Democrat Party.

And, as Enten points out, voters have taken notice:

BOLDUAN: So, if the ideology of the Democratic Party is shifting or changing —

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: How are people feeling about it?

ENTEN: OK, so we’re talking about the Democratic base, right? But what about all the — what about all Americans, right? How about all voters? Voters who say the Democrats are now too liberal? Look at this percentage. It was 42 percent in ’96, 48 percent in 2013, now 58 percent in 2025 of all Democrat — of all voters say that the Democratic Party is too liberal. The Democrats are moving to the left, the far left is gaining power, and there could be some electoral repercussions because what we see right now is voters, the clear majority, say that they are too liberal.

Nearly six in ten voters think Democrats have become too radical. Up until now, that hasn’t hurt Democrats as much as it should because they have used Donald Trump as a bete noire to keep moderate voters in their ranks. That certainly will be their strategy in the midterms this year as well, but that strategy expires in 2028. Democrats can try to transfer the Orange Man Bad/Emmanuel Goldstein strategy to the next GOP nominee for president, but it simply won’t fit – and will likely be too transparent and desperate to stick anyway. 

And by that time, perhaps the usual outcomes of socialism will become apparent where one-party domination allows Democrats to apply it. When California, New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and other Bernie Bro enclaves all start to collapse, the Democrat (Socialist) Party will have nowhere to hide, except in the hoary cliché that the failure resulted from not “socialisting” hard enough. Let’s get enough copies of F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serdom in the hands of voters to prepare them for what follows that kind of failure … and check in on Senator Fetterman on a regular basis to see whether he’d be more comfortable with a seat across the aisle in the meantime. 

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