A Napolitan News survey of 4,110 voters in October found that, given a choice between 4 candidates of equal skill and temperament, 26% would prefer a candidate who advocated policies like President Trump's. That is down a point from September, and the lowest monthly total since this question began being asked in 2020.
This is the smallest gap in our 4-Way Choice question ever measured. Previously, that distinction went to May of 2026, when 28% preferred a candidate with policies like President Trump's and 25% preferred the policies of a Tradtional Democrat. This is also the second straight month the number of voters who prefer policies like President Trump's has hit an all-time low.
The Four Way Breakdown
A fuller breakdown looks like this:
Trump-like policies: 26% of voters prefer a candidate with policies like the current president.
Traditional GOP policies: 21% of voters prefer more traditional GOP policies. That is identical to September.
AOC-like policies: 19% favor Progressive policies like those of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That is down 2 points from September. With last month's exception, 19% have preferred AOC-type policies since May.
Traditional Dem policies: In 2nd place, 24% prefer a candidate with more traditional Democratic policies. That is up 2 points since September, and within a point of the all-time high.
Historical Trends
Since 2020, a plurality of voters have always prefered Trump-like policies. However, support fell each continually from a high of 37% in June 2025 until it reached 28% for the first time in April and May of this year. After a temporary lull, support for policies like President Trump's has now reached the new low of 26%.
During this time, support trickled up for the traditional wings of both parties, with Traditional Democratic policies peaking at 25% in May. Support for AOC-like policies has stayed stagnant, consistently at 19% or 20%.
The False Rise of Progressives
Many in the political bubble are concerned with the "rise" of Democratic Socialism as candidates like Zohran Mamdani take office. However, the more voters learn about DSA platforms, the less enthusiastic they are.
Our 4-Way Choice History bears this out. In every monthly survey since AOC was used in place of Bernie Sanders*, more voters have supported traditional Democratic policies over their Progressive counterpart. Similarly, AOC has consistently polled slightly lower than Sanders did.
*Since 2020, we have asked this question, but about a candidate supporting Bernie Sanders' policies, rather than AOC's. August of 2025 was the first complete month using AOC in place of Sanders.
When we started this series in 2020, Bernie Sanders was the leading voice of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Now, AOC has taken on that role. It is appropriate, therefore, to make changes to our question wording to reflect that reality. The change from Bernie Sanders to AOC had no impacct on Trump and Traditional GOP figures.
