The Daily Populous Friday May 16th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by Tuxcali1

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice

Voters looking to the future of the Democrats consistently view New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the face of the party, with one new poll finding people would choose Ocasio-Cortez or “no one.”

Democratic or left-leaning voters have said they’ve felt demoralized since President Donald Trump won the presidential election in November, feeling like there is no clear message from Democrats or major pushback against the current administration.

However, voters do seem to agree that Ocasio-Cortez represents the Democratic Party well.

In a Co/efficient survey of roughly 1,400 voters, 26 percent said they view Ocasio-Cortez as the current face of the party – the largest consensus among respondents. Another 26 percent said “no one” served as the current face of the party.

Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez consistently receives high favorability from Democratic voters ( AP )

Democrats’ positive view of Ocasio–Cortez is consistent with other polling, which has found that liberal voters overwhelmingly favor the New York rep.

In an AP/NORC poll, 55 percent of Democratic respondents said they favor Ocasio–Cortez.

In a matchup between Democratic primary candidates, a Data for Progress poll found that 75 percent of New York Democratic primary voters favored Ocasio–Cortez over many other candidates, including Chuck Schumer.

Party favorability is likely linked to Ocasio–Cortez’s aggressive anti-Trump stance, which polling and fundraising have consistently shown voters want.

She pushes back against Republicans in congressional hearings consistently, uses social media to criticize the Trump administration and recently embarked on a tour with Senator Bernie Sanders to boost Democratic morale.

Despite the public’s favorability toward the New York rep, she has not made large strides within her party to seek a top position on key House committees.

In part, it’s because, much like Trump, Ocasio–Cortez is a polarizing political figure.

While Democrats favor Ocasio–Cortez, Republicans strongly oppose her.

BonestormEVOChamp on May 16th, 2025 at 01:53 UTC »

For me it's less about is it AOC and more about is it not Schumer, Pelosi, or any other Old Guard of the party. The Democrats almost had their revolution instead of the GOP when Sanders nearly won the nomination. Polling indicated that a significant enough subset of independent voters liked Sanders more than Trump, but liked Trump more than Clinton. This country would be nothing like it is now if he had won, and a progressive agenda was and still is popular with the people.

At the end of the day most voters want significant change, and Trump can't give it to them the way he promised. There's still an opportunity to turn people away permanently from the GOP's regressive politics, but that requires politicians that are willing (and able) to ignore the wealthy donors that bet on both horses so they never lose.

travio on May 16th, 2025 at 01:27 UTC »

She should run for Senate. Schumer is incredibly unpopular and even if he decides against retiring, she could beat him in the primary and there are no republican New Yorkers who could compete in that race.

Her "I will not yield to disrespectful men," line today would make for a great tag in that primary or at large.

homework8976 on May 16th, 2025 at 01:23 UTC »

You’re goddamned right.