CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten expressed surprise on Monday at how closely Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez trails behind Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2028 polls.
Newsom leads the pack with 21% among registered voters who are Democrats or Democratic-leaning Independents, while Ocasio-Cortez is in third place with 12%, according to a Yahoo/YouGov poll conducted from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2. Enten, on “CNN News Central,” noted that Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders lagged significantly more against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2014.
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“I just think it’s just such a tectonic shift within the Democratic electorate. Early choices for the Dem presidential nominee — back in June of 2014: look, Hillary Clinton was way ahead of everybody with 69%. Bernie Sanders was like in ninth or tenth place with just 2%,” Enten said. “Look at where we are right now in September of 2025. Look how much closer AOC is to the top now than Bernie Sanders was back a decade ago. She’s at 12%, so she has six times his amount of support.”
“But more than that, look how much closer she is to the leader. Gavin Newsom leads the field right now, but just with 21%. She is within ten points of Gavin Newsom,” he added. “I never thought I would have seen the day when someone as liberal as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is is to the leader … If we thought Bernie Sanders was a long shot back in June of 2014, at this particular point, AOC has a very real shot, at least according to the early numbers that we see so far.”
Ocasio-Cortez is a Democratic Socialist and one of the authors of the “Green New Deal,” a multi-trillion dollar proposal to push the U.S. toward net-zero emissions and guarantee jobs in the process. She has also participated in fellow Sanders‘ “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, which launched in February.
Moreover, when asked to identify the Democratic leader they believe “best reflects the core values” of their party, 10% of Democrats selected Ocasio-Cortez, while 8% chose Sanders, according to a CNN/SSRS poll published March 16. Ocasio-Cortez ranked first, while Sanders ranked third, with former Vice President Kamala Harris in between them at 9%.
Harris also ranked second in the Yahoo/YouGov poll between Ocasio-Cortez and Newsom at 19%.
Furthermore, only 42% of Democrats said they held a positive view of capitalism, compared to 66% who had a positive view of socialism, Gallup found in a poll published on Sept. 8.
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