Voters who preferred former Vice President Harris to be president could not necessarily name the current leader of the Democratic Party, as a new survey suggests.
Politico’s latest poll, conducted by the London-based consultancy organization Public First, found that Harris voters, in the days leading up to the 2025 elections, could not find consensus around a leader of the Democratic Party. Of those asked, 21 percent said they “don’t know.”
In second place, 16 percent said Harris was the party’s leader. Over 10 percent of respondents said “nobody.”
Around 7 percent of respondents each chose Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and former President Obama.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, was said to be the party’s leader by 6.2 percent of those surveyed.
Just under 2 percent of respondents named former 2016 and 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who said last year that he expects to retire at the end of his current term, as the Democrats’ leader.
The politician chosen by just over 1 percent was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Below the New York Democrat’s share, less than 1 percent of voters each said they see former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as leaders of the party.
Democratic strategist Lauren Harper Pope told Politico that the party is divided “factionally and ideologically,” and concurred with voters who said they didn’t know who the party’s leader is.
“This is where we are, guys,” Harper Pope said.
The same poll found that respondents do know who leads the Republican Party, however. Among those surveyed, 81.4 percent said President Trump leads the GOP, followed by 5.7 percent who said they “don’t know.” Behind that is Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Vice President Vance at 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
The Politico poll was conducted Oct. 18-21 and reached 2,051 respondents. The margin of error is 2.2 percentage points.
