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data for progress
'Not Just NYC': Poll Shows Mamdani Economic Policies Popular Across US
Multiple polls have suggested that Mamdani's progressive platform offers Democrats across the United States a roadmap for candidates in next year's midterms and beyond. As NYC's next mayor began assembling his team and the movement that worked to elect him created a group to keep fighting for his ambitious agenda, YouGov surveyed 1,133 US adults after his victory.
While just 31% of those surveyed said they would have voted for Mamdani—more than any other candidate—and the same share said they would vote for a candidate who identified as a "democratic socialist," the policies he ran on garnered far more support.
YouGov found:
- 69% of respondents somewhat or strongly support raising taxes on corporations and millionaires;
- 66% support implementing free childcare for every child ages 6 weeks to 5 years;
- 65% support freezing rent for lower-income tenants;
- 57% support creating a network of government-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low rather than making a profit;
- 56% support raising the minimum wage to $30 by 2030; and
- 53% support permanently eliminating the fares on public buses.
Data for Progress similarly surveyed 1,228 likely voters from across the United States about key pieces of Mamdani's platform before his win. The think tank found that large majorities of Americans support efforts to build more affordable housing, higher taxes for corporations as well as millionaires and billionaires, and free childcare, among other policies.
"There's a common refrain from some pundits to dismiss Mamdani's victory as a quirk of New York City politics rather than a sign of something bigger," Data for Progress executive director Ryan O'Donnell wrote last week. "But his campaign paired moral conviction with concrete plans to lower costs and expand access to services, making it unmistakable what he stood for and whom he was fighting for. The lesson isn't that every candidate should mimic his style—you can't fake authenticity—but that voters everywhere respond when a candidate connects economic populism to clear, actionable goals."
"Candidates closer to the center are running on an affordability message as well," he noted, pointing to Democrat Mikie Sherrill's gubernatorial victory in New Jersey. "When a center-left figure like Sherill is running on taking on corporate power, it underscores how central economic populism has become across the political spectrum. Her message may have been less fiery than Mamdani's, but she drew from a similar well of voter frustration over rising costs and corporate influence. In doing so, Sherrill demonstrated to voters that her administration would play an active role in lowering costs—something that voters nationwide overwhelmingly believe the government should be doing."
75% of US Voters Are Concerned About Surging Healthcare Premiums
The new survey also shows that 56% of voters—including 85% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 23% of Republicans—don't believe GOP President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are focused on "lower healthcare costs" for people like them and their families.
The pollsters further found that a plurality of voters continue to blame the president and GOP lawmakers the most for the shutdown, in line with Data for Progress and Groundwork Collaborative's findings from last week.
The new findings track with not only the groups' previous poll but also a survey released earlier this week by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research—which found that 6 in 10 Americans are "extremely" or "very" worried about their healthcare costs going up over the next year.
"While the president's main priority may be his brand new ballroom, American voters have made their priority loud and clear: Averting the healthcare premium cliff that will more than double their insurance premiums," said Elizabeth Pancotti, managing director of policy and advocacy at Groundwork, in a Friday statement.
Trump headed to Asia late Friday after facing rising criticism in the US this week for the ongoing shutdown and tearing down the East Wing of the White House to build a massive ballroom funded by weapons makers, tech giants, private equity firms, and other corporate donors.
Meanwhile, the GOP confirmed Friday that the US House of Representatives won't return to Washington, DC, next week. The chamber's Republicans passed a funding bill before the shutdown, but they couldn't get it through the Senate, where some Democratic support is needed. Democrats want to undo Republican Medicaid cuts and extend expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) credits, but the GOP majority refuses.
The open enrollment period for ACA plans begins November 1. The Washington Post reported Friday that "premiums for the most popular types of plans sold on the federal health insurance marketplace Healthcare.gov will spike on average by 30% next year, according to final rates approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services."
Absent action sought by congressional Democrats, at least tens of millions could face significant premium jumps—on top of the estimated 10 million people who could lose their Medicaid coverage. Pancotti said that "instead of acting to prevent healthcare price hikes for the American people, President Trump and Republicans in Congress are playing games with people's lives."
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