A majority of American voters are growing wary of socialism’s foothold in national politics, according to new polling released as the 2026 midterm campaign heats up. The survey, conducted by Noble Predictive Insights for The Center Square’s Voters’ Voice Poll, found that 63% of Americans say they are concerned about the growth of socialism or communism in American politics, compared with just 29% who say they are not.

Of that 63%, 36% describe themselves as “very concerned” and 27% as “somewhat concerned.” On the other end, only 13% say they are not at all concerned, while another 16% say they are not too concerned about the trend.

The findings land squarely in the middle of the runup to November, when Republicans — and a notable number of Democrats — have been warning against the ascent of democratic socialists in races across the country, buoyed by the visibility of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Trump Calls Communism the “Greatest Threat” in the Nation’s History

President Donald Trump has made the danger of socialism and communism a recurring theme of his messaging as the campaign season accelerates. At a recent rally centered on his administration’s economic record, the president declared communism the defining danger the country has ever faced.

“Communism is the greatest threat to our country in its history.” President Donald Trump

He struck a similar note in July while traveling to the NATO summit in Turkey, telling reporters that communism has repeatedly failed under different labels throughout history and that the line separating it from “radical socialism” is thin at best. He went on to warn that societies rarely recover once they head down that path, describing the endpoint in stark terms — of decline, hardship and moral decay.

The Warnings Aren’t Only Coming From the Right

Concern about the party’s leftward drift isn’t confined to Republicans. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has repeatedly pushed back on the rising popularity of self-described democratic socialists inside his own party, pointing earlier this month to CBS News polling showing that nearly 60% of Democrats now view socialism favorably.

“The Democratic Party is becoming the party of socialism.” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.

Fetterman has argued that a party where a majority holds a favorable view of socialism while half hold an unfavorable view of capitalism has drifted far from where he stands as a self-described free-market Democrat. He isn’t alone in that critique — longtime Democratic strategist James Carville has gone further, urging the Democratic Socialists of America to drop “Democratic” from its name altogether so voters stop associating the party label with the socialist movement.

Even Democratic Voters Are Split

The Center Square’s own numbers tell a more nuanced story within the party than the CBS figures suggest. Rather than an overwhelming embrace of socialism, Democratic voters in the Voters’ Voice Poll were themselves divided over the trend.

That internal split arrives just as a string of democratic-socialist candidates — in New York, Colorado, Michigan, California and even Florida — have won the backing of Democratic primary voters to move on to the general election in November, setting up a test of just how far the party’s leftward energy can carry it in a general electorate where concern still appears to be the majority view.

With the midterms still months away, both parties appear to be reading the same data and drawing different conclusions — Republicans treating it as a mandate to keep hammering the socialism message, and Democratic moderates treating it as a warning to rein in their party’s leftward flank before November decides the argument for them.

Reporting on the Voters’ Voice Poll data, official statements, and public remarks referenced in this article draws on original polling and reporting published by The Center Square. This article was compiled and adapted for Faith & Freedom News.