Aug 13, 2026 · 33 min
Progressives gain ground but face a purple-state test
Are The Democratic Socialists Winning or Losing?
The results suggest the Democratic left is expanding beyond urban strongholds, while exposing the coalition and electability problems it must solve.
- 1Progressive candidates can now compete in presidential battleground primaries, but their victories remain narrow and uneven.
- 2Today’s progressive coalition is younger and more activist-backed than Bernard Sanders’s 2016 base, with less emphasis on economic populism.
- 3Winning general elections will require appealing to older, working-class, moderate, independent, and relatively conservative voters.
Don't miss
Nate Cohn’s comparison of the current progressive coalition with Bernard Sanders’s 2016 base reveals a movement that is younger, more liberal, and less economically populist.
The brief
Two Democratic primaries in Michigan and Wisconsin offer a test of the left’s reach: progressives narrowly lost one race and won another in presidential battleground states.
Nate Cohn argues that today’s movement is younger and more activist-backed than Bernard Sanders’s 2016 coalition, with stronger support among mainstream progressive liberals.
The coalition’s age and income divides are stark: young voters lean progressive, while older and higher-income voters more often favor establishment moderates.
The central problem is the general election. Democratic socialists and allied progressives must broaden their appeal to independents, rank-and-file Democrats, and relatively conservative voters.
Wisconsin voters sharpen the disagreement, describing either a system that needs gradual repair or one requiring fundamental replacement; Cohn sees generational change potentially producing a nominee by 2028.
Featuring
Bernard Sanders
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Abdul El-Sayed
Wisconsin
MichiganListen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.