Two new polls suggest that moderate Democrats too want higher taxes on the rich and some measure of economic populism.

[Celerity]

Moderate isn’t what it was in 1992.

https://newrepublic.com/article/207435/moderate-democratic-voters-economic-populism

https://archive.ph/M6ihU

The center-left group Third Way held a conference last week where moderate Democratic strategists and politicians blasted progressive ideas and the party’s left wing. Third Way and other centrist Democratic groups espouse positions such as opposing Medicare for All and wealth taxes. In Washington, the idea that these groups speak for moderates across the country is never questioned. But now, some evidence is emerging that suggests Democratic voters who describe themselves as moderate are in a different place. They want Democrats to push harder to increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations and don’t think the party is overly liberal on issues such as abortion and transgender rights.

This distinction between moderate Democratic voters and the party’s moderate elites is critical to understand. Moderate Democratic voters are not centrists clamoring for a return to the Clinton era or rebukes of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders. So progressive groups and politicians can probably push rank-and-file Democratic voters to the left on a wide range of issues. And more center-left Democratic politicians must (and increasingly do) adopt more progressive positions to remain viable in a party where even the people who call themselves moderate have fairly liberal views.

I’m basing this analysis in part on a recent poll of some 2,400 prime Democratic voters (those who vote regularly in primaries) conducted in January on behalf of The New Republic by Embold Research. Respondents were given five choices to describe their ideology: conservative, moderate, moderate-to-liberal, liberal, and progressive. Only 12 percent said they identify as moderate, while another 21 percent called themselves moderate-to-liberal. And the interesting thing is that even among those two groups, their beliefs are pretty liberal.

Around 70 percent of moderates (combining the moderate and moderate-to-liberal respondents) said Democrats are “too timid” in taxing the rich, taxing corporations, and cracking down on companies that break the law. A clear majority of moderates said the party is too timid in regulating Big Tech companies. Fewer than 5 percent of moderates said Democrats are “too aggressive” in their dealings with the rich, corporations, and Big Tech. On other issues, from government spending to fighting climate change to LGBTQ rights, the overwhelming majority of moderate respondents said that Democrats’ positions are “about right.”

snip

[multigraincracker]

1. How about a wealth tax on billionaires?

[Celerity]

2. Third Way and other centrist Democratic groups espouse positions such as opposing Medicare for All and wealth taxes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/us/politics/democrats-centrism-2028-election.html

https://archive.ph/YPX8C



snip

Who stands out to you so far as most willing to lean in on tough fights?

Josh Shapiro has had some pretty significant fights. Shapiro has been willing to take on the teachers’ unions in specific instances. Gavin Newsom is trying to defeat the billionaire’s tax. That’s a huge fight inside the Democratic Party, and that’s actually pretty gutsy of him.

Ruben Gallego took some pretty strong stands on immigration. Obviously, Rahm [Emanuel] is the one who’s most unleashed right now. But there’s a range of folks.

Will Third Way endorse in 2028?

We will be the chief opponent of the left in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary, and we’ll be working both sides: Make the moderate lane as deep and as wide as possible, and really challenge the lefties.

We will not endorse anybody. This will be the most high-scale, expensive, sophisticated effort like this in the history of the organization.

snip

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/us/newsom-billionaire-tax-california.html#commentsContainer

https://archive.ph/iWkuB

[UpInArms]

3. It would be a step forward

for taxes to go back to the 1970s rational