An interesting new Democrat is polling a lot higher than any other possible candidate for the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nomination. However, it is still unclear whether the new leader of the field will become the next great hope for the Democrats.
The Democratic Party seems poised to score a massive victory over the Republicans in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, and that momentum could be carried into the next presidential election if the Dems play their cards right and pick a good candidate.
While no Democrat has yet officially announced an intention to seek the party’s 2028 presidential nomination, pollsters have already started trying to sort out where the most likely contenders stand, and that has led to some extremely interesting findings.
One of the latest polls revealed who was leading the race for both the Democrats and the Republicans, and the results were not what was expected, especially when it came to the most popular candidate respondents picked for the Democratic Party.
According to results from the Atlas National Poll, 26% of the 2,069 American adults that pollsters surveyed backed New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known by her nickname AOC, as the politician that they wanted to win the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nomination.
Like many other popular Democrats on the national political stage whose names have been tossed around by the analysts and news outlets as likely contenders for the 2028 presidential nomination race, AOC has not officially announced her candidacy.
However, the New York Congresswoman also has not yet ruled out a 2028 run. During a recent conversation with Democratic strategist David Axelrod at an event that took place in Chicago, AOC reportedly left the door open to a 2028 presidential run.
“They assume that my ambition is a title or a seat, and my ambition is way bigger than that,” Ocasio-Cortez explained to Axelrod, according to The Hill.
“My ambition is to change this country,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “Presidents come and go… elected officials come and go, but single-payer healthcare is forever.”
The finding was a bit of a surprise. While Ocasio-Cortez has been polling well in other surveys, she has yet to capture the top spot in recent polling. Other figures like Pete Buttigieg and Gavin Newsom have dominated the polling.
Sitting in second place just behind Ocasio-Cortez in Atlas National Poll’s latest findings was former US Transportation Secretary under Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, who captured 22.4% support from poll respondents as their pick to become the 2028 nominee.
California Governor Gavin Newsom wasn’t far behind Buttigieg with 21.4% support. He was followed by former Vice President Kamala Harris, who received only 12.9% support.
Neither Newsom, Buttigieg, nor Harris has announced their intention to seek the 2028 Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, but The Hill noted that like Ocasio-Cortez, all three high-profile Democrats have left the door open to running in 2028.
Newsweek’s Andrew Stanton noted that “early polls are not always predictive of final outcomes, but they do have major implications for candidates.”
“Donors and voters use polls to gauge whether a candidate is viable, so the numbers matter to a candidate’s ability to fundraise and garner media attention,” Stanton added. “They also measure initial name recognition among potential candidates.”
The latest findings from Atlas National Poll were also interesting because AtlasIntel was ranked as the most accurate polling company during the 2024 election by Nate Silver, a veteran political pollster. The company was also named the most accurate polling group of the 2020 election by the poll-aggregating firm FiveThirtyEight, according to Newsweek.
The recent Atlas National Poll also revealed that 45.4% of respondents wanted the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to be the Republican 2028 presidential nominee.
Rubio capturing nearly half of the backing of respondents was interesting because Vice President JD Vance has been topping polls. Vance only garnered 29.6% support in the Atlas National Poll while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis netted 11.2%.
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SOURCE: Democrats may have a new favorite for the presidency, polls suggest