Poll finds independents back some progressive economic ideas

Independent voters backed progressive economic ideas in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, including Medicare for all and higher taxes on billionaires, even as the broader brand of the American left remained politically contested. The result points to a split between ideology and policy: voters may recoil from labels, but still support specific proposals tied to healthcare costs and corporate power.

The survey was conducted July 29 through August 3, 2026, using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel and included 4,505 interviews of U.S. adults ages 18 and older. The margin of error was plus or minus 1.5 percentage points for all respondents and plus or minus 1.7 points for registered voters.

That distinction mattered because Democrats are debating whether to lean into a more activist economic agenda or stress centrist appeals. A separate Reuters/Ipsos poll published August 5 found Democrats held an eight-point lead over Republicans on cost of living, and Reuters reported August 3 that voters preferred Democrats over Republicans on the economy for the first time in a decade. Ipsos also said July 27 that Americans were unimpressed by ideas from both major parties, a sign that policy specifics may matter more than partisan branding.

The latest findings fit a longer pattern. Reuters reported in 2018 that 70.1% of Americans supported Medicare for All in a Reuters/Ipsos survey, and in 2019 that a majority favored a wealth tax on the very rich. In another 2019 Reuters report, 58% of Americans said fighting climate change would generate jobs and growth. Those results, taken together with the new poll, show that proposals often associated with the progressive wing can travel beyond the Democratic base when they are framed around practical gains rather than ideology.

That matters in a country where Gallup said in 2025 that 45% of U.S. adults identified as political independents, a new high. Independent voters are not a single bloc, but they are large enough to decide competitive states and districts, and they often mix skepticism toward party labels with support for stronger public services, lower health costs and tighter limits on corporate power.

For candidates in both parties, the message is less about choosing between moderation and progressivism than about which specific ideas can be sold as workable. Healthcare, taxes on the wealthy, wages, consumer protections and climate policy are likely to stay at the center of that fight heading into the 2026 midterms.