In the 2026 midterms, voters face a choice between Democrats' socialist policy agenda and Republicans' mixed record of missed wins and unfinished business. 

Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., spoke to Just The News on Monday and cautioned, "We saw what happened in Colorado, where we had two democrat-socialist aligned-candidates actually come to the top in the Democrat side of the aisle, and so the policies they're pushing are just absolutely disconnected from reality. 

"This is things like banning oil, gas, and diesel. Folks are concerned right now about the cost of goods, the cost of living, and you've got Democrat socialists who are talking about reducing the fuel supply of Colorado by 1/3 for gasoline, by one half for diesel fuel," Evans continued. "They've called farmers and ranchers horrific and exploitive. Think about what happens to your food prices and your grocery store prices when farmers and ranchers, the people that actually make our food, are called horrific and exploitive."

He also made the case that Republican candidates have wins on which to run in November.

"Look at all of the positive things that that Republicans have delivered in terms of policy," Evans said. Let's talk about housing. That's a top concern for a lot of folks. And in the Working Families tax cut, we actually included policies that specifically for Colorado are going to result in 30,000 additional affordable housing units being built. .. Getting more houses onto the market lowers the prices of being able to afford housing. It's a simple supply and demand thing. So that's a win. ... The big beautiful bill. So there's a variety of ways that Republicans are delivering."

State Rep. Donavan McKinney, endorsed by the Metro Detroit DSA, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Justice Democrats, is challenging Rep. Shri Thanedar in the heavily Democratic 13th District in Michigan. 

On Tuesday, for example, Michigan's midterm primaries feature DSA-aligned candidates who are testing the traditional left’s strength in key races: incumbent Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., a longtime DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) member, faces primary challengers in the 12th District.

Denies DSA label, but welcomes the support

While Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed is not a formal DSA member and has rejected the socialist label, his platform of Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, and aggressive progressive economic reforms, combined with endorsements from Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., plus past appearances at DSA events, places him squarely in the same ideological orbit.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Other DSA candidates are trying to hide their socialist stances. Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong, a DSA member and leading Democratic candidate for governor, posted “Abolish the Senate” on X in 2021. 

Her campaign now denies she ever supported the idea, claims she does not recall the post, and insists it is not her current position, while she distances herself from other DSA platform elements like abolishing police.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ "We better take it seriously because we're seeing it in Wisconsin, and I believe the socialist candidate is going to win the nomination for governor in the state of Wisconsin," Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wisc., told Just The News.

Tiffany, who is the presumptive Republican nominee for Wisconsin Governor, warned, "We are going to see if a mainstream state like Wisconsin, one of the states that's a backbone of America, is going to fall to socialism." 

Wisconsin was one of seven swing states that went for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. 

The turn towards socialism within the Democratic Party is scaring off some traditional Democrat voters, though. 

Bill Maher, a longtime Democrat and host of "Real Time with Bill Maher," said on his popular HBO show, "Not a week goes by where I don't read about some newly chosen, exciting new face in the Democratic Party. And then when that face opens its mouth, the Communist Manifesto or some other crazy s*** comes out," Maher argued. 

Socialism is gaining popularity

Polling shows socialism remains a minority view overall but has gained popularity among Democrats. Gallup’s 2025 survey found 39% of Americans hold a positive view of socialism (vs. 57% negative), which has held steady in recent years, while 54%, down from 60% in 2021, view capitalism positively. 

Among Democrats, positivity towards socialism reached 66%, up from 50% in 2010, and among Republicans, just 14%. 

A 2026 Fox News poll recorded a high of 38% saying a shift toward socialism would be good (up from 18% in 2010), though 61% disagreed.

Democrats have an antisemitism problem 

There's growing concern that the Democratic Party has grown more tolerant of antisemitism, particularly on its progressive left. After the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, anti-Israel activism sometimes crossed into anti-Semitic tropes, campus harassment of Jewish students, and candidates embracing slogans or rhetoric that has historically been threatening to Jews. 

Of particular concern to Jewish Americans are DSA-backed primary victories by anti-Israel candidates in New York, which has the country's highest Jewish population. New York City also voted DSA Mayor Zohran Mamdani into office, who has supported BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) against Israel, called it an apartheid state committing genocide in Gaza, and revoked prior executive orders adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) antisemitism definition. At one point he insisted he would arrest the Israeli Prime Minister upon arrival before his address at the U.N.  

Republicans have their own problems

Voters have grown increasingly dissatisfied with Republicans in Congress for delivering little beyond a handful of signature items, despite controlling both chambers and the White House, after Trump won the popular and electoral vote in the 2024 election. 

While the party succeeded in passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), also promoted as the Working Families Tax Cuts, which extended the 2017 tax cuts and added new deductions for tips and overtime, this remains essentially their sole major legislative achievement.  

The most glaring shortfall has been the repeated failure to pass the universally popular SAVE America Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act), a priority election-integrity measure requiring proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote. The White House released a poll showing a 71% margin of support for the bill.

To the credit of House Republicans, it passed out of the lower chamber multiple times but has repeatedly stalled in the Senate due to the filibuster and intra-party divisions. Polls reflect this frustration, with congressional approval near historic lows and even many Republican voters expressing disappointment over limited progress.

The Iran conflict is a drag on Republican support 

The ongoing and ever-changing U.S.-Iran conflict, which began with joint American-Israeli strikes in February, has become a political liability for Republicans heading into the November midterms. 

Prolonged fighting, frayed cease-fires, higher energy prices from Strait of Hormuz disruptions, and rising inflation have weighed on Trump’s approval ratings. Many in the MAGA base resent another foreign entanglement, while U.S. casualties, depleted munitions stockpiles, and congressional pushback, including a House resolution opposing the war, have fueled voter fatigue. 

With economic pain hitting pocketbooks and the conflict unresolved just months before Election Day, the war risks dampening Republican turnout and boosting Democratic challenges in competitive races.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

What generic ballot polling says

Heading into the midterm summer stretch, Republican approval remains relatively weak amid broad voter discontent. Trump’s job approval hovers around 34%, with 64% disapproving, according to recent Pew Research and other national polls. 

That number is lower than former President Barack Obama at the same point in his second term (around 42-44%) and former President George W. Bush's at 37%. Former President Joe Biden in his first and only term, 20 months in, Biden's approval was 44%. 

The Republican-led Congress fares even worse, with only about 25% of Americans viewing it favorably—near historic lows. On the generic congressional ballot, Democrats lead by roughly 6 points in the RealClearPolitics average. While the GOP retains strong support among its base, independents and overall favorability for the party and its congressional wing stay underwater, reflecting frustration over the economy, limited legislative progress, and other issues as the November elections approach. 

The silver lining for Republicans 

Midterm elections typically produce big wins for the non-incumbent party. Republicans shouldn't even be in the running to keep majorities in the House and the Senate. 

However, because of the controversial policies of radical left Democrats, and despite milquetoast enthusiasm among Republicans, the gulf in polling is not as wide as it would typically be. 

Republicans currently trail Democrats by about six points on the generic congressional ballot, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average (Democrats 48.0%, Republicans 41.6%). 

While that deficit puts the GOP on the defensive heading into the midterms, it is relatively modest compared with previous cycles when the non-incumbent party held larger leads. In 2018, for example, Democrats often polled 7–10 points ahead of Republicans. In 2006 their advantage was frequently in the double digits, and in 2010 Republicans built substantial leads as the opposition party. A six-point gap is meaningful but not yet at the scale of those earlier wave environments.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Amanda Head is White House Correspondent for Just The News. You can follow her here.