CNN’s Harry Enten has revealed that the Democrats are more liberal now than they have been at any point in modern polling history.
The chief data analyst said Tuesday that 59 percent of Democrats identified as liberal, the highest share recorded since the Gallup/CBS News poll began asking party members in 1976.
“You know, when I was a kid, ‘liberal’ was a four-letter word. Nobody wanted to identify as liberal,” said the 37-year-old data analyst on CNN News Central. “Well, guess what? The folks identifying as liberal? It is—get this—a 50-year high!"
Enten noted that in 1996, Americans identified as “conservative” over “liberal” by what Enten described as a “yuge" +22 margin. Today, that number has shrunk to +7.
“That is a 15-point shift away from the conservatives towards the liberals,” he explained. “As I said at the beginning, the self-identified liberalness of this country is at a 50-year high. I went all the way back, looking at polls since 1976, and at this point, more folks are identifying as ‘liberal’ than at any point since the Gerald Ford administration.”
Enten noted that today’s record share of Democrats identifying as liberal is up sharply from 30 percent in 1976 and 29 percent in 2001.
“Look at where we are today,” Enten said, adding, “Three in five Democrats say they are liberal.”
CNN News Central host John Berman added that the shift is a stark contrast to the late twentieth century, when Democrats proudly tried to attach themselves to the “conservative” label.
“In the 70s, 80s, even 90s, there were Democrats who liked to say, oh, no, no, we‘re conservative Democrats here. We‘re running in the mainstream, what they call the mainstream of the party," said Berman, 53.
Enten theorized that because Democratic party leaders embraced the “liberal” descriptor, voters followed suit.
“Why is this movement happening? Democrats, Democrats, Democrats!” emphasized an animated Enten. “I remember back in 2008, I think it was Hillary Clinton who said, ‘I‘m not a liberal. I‘m a progressive.’ That was how much ‘liberal’ was a four-letter word. But take a look here. Democrats who say they‘re liberal.”
The shift comes as left-wing representatives of the Democratic Party, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, have taken up the “progressive” mantle while more moderate Democrats adhere to the term “liberal.”
And though more Democrats identifying as “liberal” signifies a dramatic shift in party attitudes toward the ideology, the real meat for Enten and Berman is in how many Americans are identifying as Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterms.
“That is not the only good news for liberals,” Enten said as he revealed that in the last quarter of 2025, self-identified Democrats outnumbered self-identified Republicans by 8 points, which is one point higher than when Enten tracked the number in October 2025.
Enten said that Democrats’ lead is a strong indicator that Democrats are primed to take over the House in the 2026 midterms.
“That looks nothing like what we saw going into the 2022 midterms, when Republicans had a five-point advantage, and of course, took back the House,” Enten said. “This is even better than what we saw Democrats had back in 2017, in quarter four, when they had a six-point advantage. And of course, Democrats easily took back the House then.”
