The number of Americans who think that the Democratic Party has become too liberal is at an “all-time high,” according to a new poll.
The CNN survey found that support for left-wing candidates, including New York mayor Zohran Mamdani and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, had surged in the party as the democratic socialist wing of the party grew.
However, this shift could be alienating more conservative Democrats and voters.
Around 58 percent of voters thought the party had become too liberal in 2025, spiking from 48 percent in 2013. That number was even lower during former President Bill Clinton’s time in office, hovering at 42 per cent in 1996.
“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,” Harry Enten, CNN’s senior data analyst, said.
According to his findings, a third of the party now say that they see themselves as being in line with Mamdani and Sanders’s left-leaning views, with around three in five Democrats describing themselves as somewhat liberal or very liberal.
According to Enten, the findings indicate a complete reversal of the Democratic Party’s base in 1999 and a painful splitting in the party’s demographic structure.
“Back in 1999, 26% of Democrats self-identified as conservative,” he said. “Just 5% said that they were very liberal. It was a smidgen.”
Meanwhile, that conservative contingent of the party could have diminished to as little as 8 percent.
But Enten says that the Democratic Party’s leftward shift could continue into the future, with younger members of the party holding increasingly left-wing views.
“They are a considerable part of the Democratic base at this point,” he said. “And more than that, if you look at Democrats under the age of 35, they are nearly half, nearly half of the Democratic Party.”
“It is something that we are seeing grow within the Democratic Party at this particular point,” he continued. “When we’re talking about 42% of Democrats under the age of 35 identifying as democratic socialists and a third of all Democrats… my goodness gracious.”
It comes after a separate survey conducted by Rasmussen, whose research President Trump often touts on Truth Social, found that only 40 percent of voters preferred the current commander-in-chief to former President Joe Biden.
Mark Mitchell, Rasmussen’s head pollster, even claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Trump would lose to Biden again if an election were held today.
Some 58 percent of people polled in the survey also said that they do not feel that Trump’s so-called “golden age has yet materialized.”
Democratic political strategist Chris D Jackson highlighted the Rasmussen findings on X, comparing them to two recent surveys by YouGov and Harvard/Harris that also found that voters preferred Biden.
“Three polls in one week all say the same thing,” Jackson wrote. “A majority of Americans believe @JoeBiden was a better president than Donald Trump.
“When even Rasmussen shows it, you know how bad things have gotten for Trump.”
