Four Way Choice: Plurality Prefer Policies of a Traditional Democrat

Publication Date: 10/15/2026 2:56 PM CST

Four Way Choice: Plurality Prefer Policies of a Traditional Democrat

Publication: 10/15/2026 2:56 PM CST

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For the first time in nearly 6 years, a plurality of voters (26%) say they prefer the policies of a Traditional Democrat.

Given a choice between 4 candidates of equal skill and temperament, 26% prefer the policies of a Traditional Democrat, 24% prefer the policies of someone like Donald Trump, 22% prefer the policies of a Traditional Republican, and 19% prefer the policies of someone like Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez (AOC).

RMG Research and Napolitan News have been asking this question since 2020 on nearly every survey, and until the latest, a plurality of voters has always preferred policies like those of President Trump. Trump-like policies still lead the monthly averages with 27%.

The number who prefer the policies of a Traditional Democrat (26%) is a new high, and the number who prefer policies like those of President Trump (24%) is a new low. Voters who prefer policies like Trump's have been on the decline; 25% chose those policies on September 8-9. Since that date, the number prefering the policies of a Traditional Democrat has been 22% or 23% until these most recent results.

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.

This data is from a Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 Registered Voters conducted online by Scott Rasmussen, October 5-13, 2026. RMG Research, Inc., conducted the field work for the survey. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1.