This leader is the most popular among Democratic voters. It’s not Kamala Harris, Obama
ByHT News Desk
Mar 17, 2025 10:44 PM IST
The poll released on March 16 also revealed the majority of Democrats believe that the party needs to do more to “stop the Republican agenda.”
A recent CNN poll has placed Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) ahead of popular leaders like former Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Bernie Sanders and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, suggesting that she is rapidly gaining popularity among Democratic voters.
The poll comes at a time when there is an apparent growing frustration within the Democratic Party.(Bloomberg)
The poll comes at a time when there is an apparent growing frustration within the Democratic Party.(Bloomberg)
The findings, recently revealed by the publication, have sparked conversations about her political rise in the US political landscape, with some analysts drawing parallels between her trajectory and that of the Republican Party after Obama’s 2008 election win.
Axios reporter Alex Isenstadt said on “Inside Politics Sunday” this morning that in some ways, AOC’s political rise reminds him of what happened to Republicans after Obama’s election in 2008.
A poll conducted by SSRS in collaboration with CNN suggests that the majority of democratic voters when asked to name the Democratic leader who best reflects the core values of the party named AOC as their first choice.
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Going by the numbers, at least 10 per cent of the respondents named Ocasio-Cortez, placing her ahead of other prominent Democrats like former Vice President Kamala Harris (9%), Senator Bernie Sanders (8%), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (6%), the poll revealed.
The poll released on March 16 also revealed the majority of Democrats believe that the party needs to do more to “stop the Republican agenda,”
What do analysts say about AOC's popularity?
Isenstadt compared AOC's rise in American politics to the emergence of the Tea Party in the Republican Party following Obama’s election, a time when the GOP was searching for a new direction.
"You know, her rise kind of reminds me of what happened to Republicans after Obama’s election in 2008 where it was the loudest voices of the Republican Party, the Tea Party, that gained traction at a time when the Republican Party was lost," he said on Inside Politics Sunday.
Isenstadt also suggested that AOC might represent the voice of the Democratic Party moving forward.
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Washington Post reporter Paul Kane agreed, highlighting the generational shift within the party. He pointed out that many younger voters, particularly those under 30, have only participated in elections where candidates over 70 years old, like Donald Trump and Joe Biden, won.
“There are millions of voters out there craving something new, something younger, something closer to them,” he said on the show.
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The poll comes at a time when there is an apparent growing frustration within the Democratic Party, especially after a vote where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and several other party leaders sided with Republicans in favour of the GOP’s spending bill.
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Read breaking news, latest updates from United States on topics related to politics, crime, along with national affairs. Stay up to date with news developments on Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.