How scary is a democratic socialist candidate? Apparently not as scary as a MAGA one | CNN Politics

The rise of democratic socialists in recent House primaries is certainly posing problems for the Democratic Party. But as Republicans seek to make this a central issue in the 2026 midterm elections, new data indicates it might not be as big a liability for Democrats as one might think. A case in point: A new poll suggests that a democratic socialist candidate is actually less of a liability than being a MAGA supporter or being endorsed by President Donald Trump. The new CNBC poll got at this question in an interesting way. It asked registered voters whether they would be more or less likely to vote for candidates with various associations. While 50% of voters said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who describes themselves as a democratic socialist, just 32% said they would be more likely. That’s not too good. The numbers were slightly worse for a generic candidate endorsed by Trump. Registered voters said they were less likely to support that candidate, 52%-29%. And the numbers were significantly worse for a candidate who described themselves as a supporter of the MAGA movement. In that case, the margin was 57%-27%. Perhaps even more important than those overall n