The State of Socialism in the United States, 2026

A brief overview of organizational strength, electoral gains, public opinion, and opposition

Overview

Socialism in the United States occupies an unusual position in 2026: still a minority political current by most measures, but more organizationally and electorally visible than at any point in decades. The relevant story is less a mass conversion to socialist ideology than a convergence of three trends — a surge in Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) membership, a string of high-profile electoral wins culminating in a democratic socialist mayor of New York City, and a broader public souring on capitalism that has not translated into equivalent enthusiasm for socialism itself.

Organizational Strength

The Democratic Socialists of America, the country’s largest socialist organization, reported crossing 120,000 dues-paying members on July 4, 2026 — a figure the organization says surpasses the peak membership of Eugene Debs’s Socialist Party of America in 1912, and far exceeds the historic high of the Communist Party USA. DSA had roughly 5,000 members a decade ago; growth has been especially rapid since 2024–25.

Membership is concentrated in major metropolitan chapters: New York City (roughly 14,000), Los Angeles (about 5,000), Chicago (around 2,700), and Metro DC (about 3,500), among dozens of smaller chapters nationwide. DSA operates as a “big tent” spanning democratic socialists, social democrats, and further-left tendencies, and is organized around electoral work, labor organizing, and direct action rather than a single party program.

Electoral Gains

The most consequential development is the January 2026 inauguration of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City. A DSA member and former state assemblyman, Mamdani defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo in the 2025 general election after an upset primary win, becoming the city’s first Muslim and first Asian American mayor. His platform centered on rent freezes, free childcare, and city-run grocery stores. In his first 100 days, Mamdani framed his approach as pragmatic municipal governance — dubbed “pothole politics” — aimed at showing that democratic socialists can competently administer a large city government.

DSA-backed candidates also won a wave of 2025 local races and, in June 2026, swept three Democratic congressional primaries in New York — including two defeats of sitting Democratic incumbents. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) remain the movement’s most prominent national figures, though neither is formally a DSA officeholder. At the local level, DSA-affiliated officials now hold seats on city councils in Chicago and Los Angeles and in New York’s state legislature, though the movement holds no U.S. Senate seats and only a small number of U.S. House seats held by self-identified democratic socialists.

Public Opinion

Gallup’s long-running tracking poll found 54% of Americans held a positive view of capitalism in 2025, down from 60% in 2021 and the lowest level since Gallup began asking in 2010. A steady 39% viewed socialism positively — essentially unchanged over the same period. The headline trend, in other words, is declining confidence in capitalism more than rising enthusiasm for socialism.

The partisan divide is sharp. Democrats now view socialism more favorably than capitalism, 66% to 42% — the first time Gallup found Democratic approval of capitalism below half. Independents remain modestly more pro-capitalism (51% to 38%), and Republicans overwhelmingly favor capitalism (74% to 14%). A subsequent Economist/YouGov poll found 58% of Democrats holding a favorable view of socialism, with about a third saying it is a better economic system than capitalism. Younger Americans view socialism roughly as positively as older generations view capitalism, though large majorities across age groups still favor “free enterprise” specifically over either broad label.

Opposition and Criticism

Socialism’s rise has drawn sustained pushback. President Trump has made attacking Democrats as “socialists” and “communists” a central 2026 midterm message, at one point calling Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic,” a label Mamdani rejects. Critics, including commentators at outlets such as the Washington Examiner and City Journal, argue that democratic socialist governance promises — rent freezes, free services, government-run stores — understate fiscal and economic trade-offs, and that Mamdani’s early policies will be tested by New York’s budget realities. Centrist Democrats have also expressed concern that primary wins by DSA-backed challengers against incumbents signal an intraparty fight over the party’s direction, particularly ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Outlook

Socialism remains a minority position nationally, and self-identified socialists hold no federal executive office and few congressional seats. But the combination of record DSA membership, a socialist mayor governing the country’s largest city, and a Democratic base that now leans more favorably toward socialism than capitalism marks a genuine shift from the marginal status the movement held a decade ago. Whether this represents a durable realignment or a high-water mark tied to specific figures and a specific economic moment is likely to become clearer through the 2026 midterms and Mamdani’s first full term.