Democratic Voters Who Skipped 2024 Election Want Candidates Like Bernie, AOC

[Uncle Joe]

“The conventional wisdom is really wrong on these voters,” says pollster Celinda Lake. “They want leaders who will fight for everyone”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders share a moment onstage during a rally on March 21, 2025 at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado.
Chet Strange/Getty Images

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“The conventional wisdom is really wrong on these voters,” Lake tells Rolling Stone. “They’re very clear about what they want and what they thought was missing in 2024: They want leaders who will fight for everyone… They’re very health care-oriented…They want to crack down on Big Pharma… They’re very populist. They have a clear economic agenda around affordability and making the wealthy pay what they owe in taxes.”

Perhaps most critically, Lake adds: “You can’t get these voters by just being against things. You have to be for something… You have to be offering solutions… And you have to be standing up and fighting.”

Previously publicized voter file data indicated that millions of voters who cast votes for Biden in 2020 failed to appear at the polls to back his vice president four years later. Lake Research Partners polled 822 registered voters in battleground states who matched that profile, and what they found was that those voters are more liberal, and more plugged into the news, than many of the loudest pundits and prognosticators have assumed.

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Ancona notes these voters’ “top issue is affordable health care,” so Democrats should have a “golden opportunity” right now. Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” signed into law on July 4, will once again slash taxes for the ultra-wealthy, and do so while punishing the poor. Roughly 17 million Americans are expected to lose their health insurance as a result of the law, combined with Republicans’ refusal to extend subsidies for marketplace coverage.

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https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/biden-harris-bernie-aoc-democrats-voters-skipped-2024-1235387827/