Poll Finds Majorities Less Likely to Back Democratic Socialist, Trump-Endorsed, or MAGA Candidates

A CNBC All-America Economic Survey released July 11 found that 32% of registered voters would be more likely to support a candidate who describes themselves as a Democratic socialist, while 50% would be less likely. Twenty-nine percent said they would be more likely to back a candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump, and 52% would be less likely.

Twenty-seven percent said a candidate who describes themselves as a supporter of the MAGA movement would make them more likely to vote for that person, while 57% said it would make them less likely.

The poll, conducted July 8-12 with 1,000 registered voters and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, showed Democrats leading the generic ballot by four points. Forty-nine percent of voters said they would prefer a Democrat-controlled Congress, and 45% said they would prefer Republican control.

President Trump's approval rating stood at 40%, with 59% disapproving, one point lower than the April survey.

Sixty percent disapproved of his handling of the economy, while 38% approved. Twenty-eight percent of registered voters viewed socialism positively, up from 18% in 2024. Fifty percent viewed capitalism positively, little changed from 51% the prior year.

Voters aged 18-34 preferred socialism over capitalism by an 18-point margin. Forty-four percent said some form of socialism would be a bad thing for the country, while 40% said it would be a good thing, narrowing the gap by half from the previous poll.

"If these current attitudes were to persist over time, and the 18-49 year-olds of today were going to keep those types of attitudes, we're going to have a seismic shift in terms of the national conversation and economic policy prescriptions that we see coming out of Congress and different places over time," said Micah Roberts, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies, the Republican pollster for the survey.