2028?

AOC hosted fellow Democratic Socialist and Democrat candidate for NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani on a visit to Washington, DC yesterday. She is hopeful that as more people inside the party get to know him, they will embrace both his candidacy and his ultra-progressive platform. They are both from NYC...otherwise we could be looking at the 2028 Democratic ticket. Recall that just before the NYC primary, a national poll of 1500+ voters found that Mamdani’s ideas were very popular. Asked whether they “approve or disapprove of the following proposals to lower the cost of living” — none of which were attributed to Mamdani — Americans approved by wide margins in every instance.

• 62% approved and 24% disapproved of implementing free childcare for every child aged 6 weeks to 5 years (a +38-point margin).
• 60% approved and 22% disapproved of freezing rent for lower-income tenants (a +38-point margin).
• 51% approved and 31% disapproved of creating a network of government-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low rather than making a profit (a +20-point margin).
• 49% approved and 34% disapproved of raising the minimum wage to $30 by 2030 (a +15-point margin).
• 46% approved and 36% disapproved of permanently eliminating the fares on public buses (a +10-point margin).
• 65% approved and 22% disapproved of raising taxes on corporations and millionaires to pay for these proposals (a +43-point margin).

While Democrats were the most supportive — predictably so — Mamdani’s policies still garnered significant support among Republicans, with roughly 4 in 10 saying they approved of freezing the rent (38%), implementing free childcare (38%), and raising taxes on corporations and millionaires to foot the bill (40%).

And in the 2020 presidential primaries, Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders was leading until the endorsement of Congressman Jim Clyburn drove the Biden candidacy from 4th place to 1st. But the appeal of the Democratic Socialist freebies is strong. And as the poll referenced above demonstrates, that appeal is not confined to Democrats. Prepare to see much more of this ZohrAOC team.