Nearly a third of American voters identify as progressives, but even more are worried about how much influence progressives now have in the Democratic Party.
Democrat primary victories by far-left “progressive” candidates have raised concerns about the party’s direction heading into this fall’s midterm elections. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Likely Voters believe progressives have too much influence in the Democratic Party, while 27% think progressives don’t have enough influence with Democrats. Nineteen percent (19%) say the amount of progressive influence in the Democratic Party is about right, and 16% are not sure.
A recent Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 29% of Likely U.S. Voters say that, in terms of politics generally, they consider themselves progressive. Fifty-one percent (51%) don’t identify as progressive, and 21% are not sure.
Among those who identify as progressives, 51% believe progressives don’t have enough influence in the Democratic Party and 28% say the amount of progressive influence on Democrats is about right. However, among those who say they’re not progressives, a solid majority (56%) think progressives have too much influence in the Democratic Party.
Nearly half (49%) of Democrats say that, in terms of politics generally, they consider themselves progressive, as do 18% of Republicans and 17% of voters not affiliated with either major party.
Most Democrats think progressives have either not enough influence (36%) or about the right amount of influence (30%) in their party but 57% of Republicans and 40% of unaffiliated voters believe progressives have too much influence in the Democratic Party.
Men and women voters are almost equally likely to identify as progressives, but more men (44%) than women voters say progressives have too much influence in the Democratic Party.
Twenty-seven percent (27%) of whites, 34% of black voters, 35% of Hispanics and 22% of other minorities consider themselves progressive. Hispanics are most likely to think progressives have too much influence in the Democratic Party.
Young voters are significantly more likely than those 50 and older to identify as progressives. A majority (51%) of voters 65 and older believe progressives have too much influence in the Democratic Party, but younger voters are more likely to think progressives don’t have enough influence on Democrats.
Breaking down the electorate by income categories, voters earning between $50,0000 and $100,000 are most likely to say that, in terms of politics generally, they consider themselves progressive.
About two-thirds of those who voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election think progressives have either not enough influence (34%) or about the right amount of influence (32%) in the Democratic Party. Sixty-three percent (63%) of those who voted for Donald Trump say progressives have too much influence in the Democratic Party.
The survey of 1,083 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on July 12-14, 2026 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology. To see survey question wording, click here.
