Polling guru Nate Silver is predicting that Democrats will choose Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as their 2028 presidential nominee.
Silver stated his opinion in a video on Wednesday on his Silver Bulletin Substack with journalist Galen Druke, who initially mentioned AOC as a possible candidate.
‘That was going to be my f***ing pick!’ Silver exclaimed. ‘We both are on the AOC bus.’
He justified his choice of AOC by citing polling data and her position in the progressive lane, despite not being the sole occupant, due to her youth and adeptness with the media.
He pointed to polls that showed her leading Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer should she try to challenge him for his New York Senate seat.
Silver said he thought this could mean that she has appeal beyond the progressive left as New York Democrats are actually ‘a pretty moderate lot.’
In support of their argument, Druke highlighted AOC’s positive reception in a recent Yale poll, where she received the highest net favorability rating among all the Democrats surveyed.
Ocasio-Cortez had a 62 percent positive rating among Democrats in the survey, with former Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, trailing her slightly.
Polling guru Nate Silver (left) and journalist Galen Druke (right) both picked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as their dark horse pick to lead the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket in 2028
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks at a stop on the ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ tour in California earlier this week. She and progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders have drawn large crowds since taking on the Trump agenda
Druke noted that this means that AOC ‘has broad appeal across the Democratic Party.’
‘She has very fervent support,’ he added – something that could come in her favor should she announce a presidential run and get through a crowded primary field.
‘I think a lot of people are gonna run in 2028 and it’s going to be a contest for attention and getting those sort of people who might be in your boat to turn out and stay with you through thick and thin, and I think that’s Ocasio-Cortez,’ Druke said.
While AOC has become a prominent Republican punching-bag, she’s played the political game better than some of her fellow squad members.
During recent appearances on her ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ tour, with fellow progressive, Sen. Bernie Sanders, she’s stuck to kitchen table issues over pushing social issues that conservatives have expertly maligned as ‘woke.’
‘I think progressives have learned like stick to the economic message because what you have to say about those social and cultural state of affairs in America broadly isn’t popular, and I think she knows that,’ Druke said.
Silver said he wasn’t sure the 35-year-old New York congresswoman would even run for the presidency.
Druke said he was pretty sure she would.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez waves to supporters at a Fighting Oligarchy in Folsom Lake College in Folsom, California
‘I think she’s gonna run. If you’ve been following her moves in terms of her ‘Fight Oligarchy,’ in terms of the kind of content she’s putting out on social media,’ he argued.
‘Also, she has learned a lot as a politician since those early days of opposing Amazon, and especially those early days of the ‘Abolish ICE’ stuff that was very unpopular ultimately,’ Druke continued.
‘You listen to her message today, it’s all about the economy, and she’s really hitting Trump on I think his most obvious weakness most quickly, which is the number of billionaires in his cabinet, he seems to be serving – like playing to the tech elite, and serving people who are ultimately not the median voter in America,’ Druke added.
Druke also argued that as a Latina, AOC doesn’t have to argue that she’s fit to represent a racially diverse party, comparing her ease to former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who while gay, is also a white man from the Midwest.
Silver and Druke agreed on their second-place pick as well – Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
In third for Silver was Sen. Cory Booker, the New Jersey Democrat who recently set a record for the longest Senate floor speech.
In third for Druke was 2024 nominee Harris.
