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In recent years, there’s been a rise of politicians in the national spotlight who self-describe as democratic socialist.
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Think New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who all represent voters in reliably left-leaning states.
Akin to when the Make America Great Again movement first rose because of President Donald Trump, it isn’t clear if the hype around the movement will stick or spread. With MAGA, it did both, with the political movement tied to Trump now dominating the Republican Party.
In North Carolina, a purple state with many unaffiliated voters, democratic socialism may be gaining adherents.
A new poll shows 29%, or nearly 3 in 10, of all North Carolinians polled — not just Democrats — identified either “a lot” or “somewhat” as democratic socialists. Another 17% identified “only a little” and 54% “not at all.”
The poll, developed by the Elon University Poll and fielded by YouGov between July 23 and July 31, asked 800 respondents online how much they identified with 30 different common political and social identities. It found that people identified more often with identities centered on their values, their work, their state, and more, than with political labels like MAGA or democratic socialist. The top three identities picked, regardless of party, were “working class,” “anti-racist,” and “proud North Carolinian” — all with more than a 70% uptake. The poll didn’t define the labels, it simply put them out there for people to select if they chose.
While democratic socialist identification wasn’t among the top picks overall, it drew similar support to MAGA. Once party affiliation was factored in, the uptake among Democrats who identify as democratic socialists was much higher.
Jason Husser, director of the Elon University Poll, told The News & Observer that “both MAGA and Democratic Socialists show that they’re meaningful movements within their respective parties, with MAGA much more so.”
Among Democrats polled, 56% identified with democratic socialist, making it their 10th most frequently chosen identity. Among Republicans, just 7% identified with it, and among independents, 26%.
As for MAGA identification in the state, 34% of people polled identified with MAGA. By party, 74% of Republicans identified with MAGA, making it the sixth most common identity among them, compared with just 15% of Democrats and 17% of independents.
Democratic socialism has existed for decades, with roots stretching back even further. And recently, some democratic socialists have seen success at the ballot box, particularly in blue enclaves — though others have seen defeat. Just this week, a democratic socialist beat her better-funded, more centrist opponent in the Democratic primary for a Florida U.S. Senate seat, winning in some areas where progressives usually struggle, The Washington Post reported.
The Democratic Socialists of America says on its website that capitalism is a system designed “by the owning class to exploit the rest of us for their own profit. We must replace it with democratic socialism, a system where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and society.” The DSA says that it believes there are many ways to feed into a democratic road towards socialism but that it leaves behind authoritarian visions of socialism. There are DSA chapters across the country, including in Raleigh.
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Husser said it’s unclear whether people who identify as democratic socialists “like Bernie Sanders, or like the vibe of Bernie Sanders and know he’s a Democratic Socialist, or really adhere to this as the direction they want the party to go.”
“It may not be that they have a formal attachment to voting blocs the way MAGA does, since MAGA has been associated with three presidential campaigns already at this point,” Husser said.
The share of people who identified as democratic socialists in the poll wasn’t something Husser expected, he said, as there has yet to be a statewide or high-profile democratic socialist candidate from the state.
The most high-profile race in North Carolina heading into the midterms is the U.S. Senate contest between former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley and former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Whatley is closely tied to Trump and MAGA, while Cooper is more center-left, not a democratic socialist candidate. Cooper has so far strongly led in polls, including the Elon poll, which also surveyed that race. Trump’s approval ratings, meanwhile, have been hitting new lows, falling to 33% — the lowest of his presidency — per a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday. For Husser, that parallel between Trump’s sagging approval and the MAGA identification uptake suggests the movement is tied more to Trump himself than to a broader platform.
Husser shared with The N&O a cross-tab of the dataset that included results solely from registered voters — narrowing the field to 717 responses — broken down by strength of party identification. It showed that 31% of those who strongly identified as Democrats said they identified with democratic socialism “a lot,” while 54% of those who strongly identified as Republicans said they identified with MAGA “a lot.”
Democratic socialism “doesn’t look like it’s sort of a dominant player yet. It might be one day, but at this point, I’d say it looks like an important minority component of the Democratic Party,” Husser said.
Independents did not have either MAGA or democratic socialist among their most frequently chosen identities.
And what they care about and identify with matters, since they’re now the largest bloc in the state by voter registration.
Registered voters who identified as independent, without a partisan lean, showed just 3% identifying “a lot” with democratic socialism, 19% “somewhat,” and 65% “not at all.” Independents showed even less MAGA identification: 7% “a lot,” 7% “somewhat,” and 77% “not at all.”
“There’s quite a few true independents that at least flirt with the idea of being a democratic socialist,” Husser said.
Unaffiliated voters tend to vote more with Democrats.
Other political identities were polled. About 26% of all respondents called themselves “politically homeless” and 20% identified as libertarian. The survey’s margin of error came in at 4.24 percentage points.
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This story was originally published August 21, 2026 at 9:57 AM.