Since Kamala Harris lost the 2024 presidential election to Donald Trump, the Democratic Party has moved steadily leftward, and the polling data now documents just how far. Across a striking range of measures, from views on socialism and patriotism to support for political violence and open borders, Democrats have shifted away from positions that once defined the mainstream of their party. The Democratic Socialists of America, a far-left movement that has been winning Democratic primaries across the country, is pulling the party toward territory most Americans do not occupy.

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Start with economics. YouGov polling published in August found that 58 percent of Democrats hold a positive view of socialism, compared to just 32 percent who view capitalism favorably. Half of Democrats, 50 percent, reported a negative view of capitalism, while only 18 percent held a negative view of socialism. That finding followed CNN polling from July showing that roughly one-third of Democrats and Democrat-leaning adults identify as “Democratic Socialists,” and that 59 percent of self-described Democratic Socialists in the party are under the age of 45. The generational tilt matters: the voters and activists shaping the party’s future are the ones most comfortable with the label.

Patriotism tells a similar story. YouGov polling published in June found that only 8 percent of Democrats regard the United States as “the greatest” country in the world, compared to 52 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of MAGA Republicans. Roughly one in five Americans who backed Kamala Harris in 2024 said they believe the U.S. is “among the worst” countries in the world, while zero percent of Trump voters described the country as “the worst.” The divide extends past party lines into ideology itself: 26 percent of liberals described the U.S. as “worse than average,” while 53 percent of conservatives called it “the greatest” in the world.

On political violence, the numbers are more troubling still. Polling from the Center for Strategic Politics published in September found that 32 percent of Democrats said they would feel positive if President Trump were assassinated at a campaign rally, and 59 percent said they would feel “very positive” or “somewhat positive” if Trump were removed from office by the military. YouGov polling conducted about a year earlier, following the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, found that 25 percent of “very liberal” Americans and 17 percent of “liberal” Americans considered political violence justifiable, compared to 6 percent of conservatives. Among liberals aged 18 to 44, that figure rose to 26 percent. The youngest and most ideologically committed segments of the left are also the most willing to accept violence as a political tool.

Immigration rounds out the pattern. A Harvard/Harris Poll published in April found that 52 percent of Democrats believe their own party supports open borders, and 58 percent of Americans generally view Democrats as favoring open borders. Earlier YouGov polling from January showed that 76 percent of Democrats support abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entirely. That even Democratic voters describe their party this way suggests the shift is not a matter of Republican messaging but of the party’s actual positioning. Most Americans support border control, regulated migration, and efforts to deter illegal entry, which places the Democratic base well outside the national consensus on an issue that ranks among voters’ top concerns.

The pattern across these four areas is not coincidence. A party whose voters favor socialism over capitalism, who feel little attachment to their own country, who tolerate political violence, and who want immigration enforcement abolished has adopted a worldview fundamentally at odds with the American founding. Scripture warns about the consequences of such a turn. Proverbs 29:2 observes that when the wicked rule, the people groan, and Psalm 11:3 asks what the righteous can do when the foundations are destroyed. The foundations in view here are not partisan preferences but the basic commitments of a free society: private property and economic liberty, love of country, the rejection of violence as a means of political change, and the rule of law at the border. A nation that abandons them does not simply change direction; it changes character. Christians should not respond with alarm alone but with prayer for those who have embraced these views, and with renewed commitment to the principles that make self-government possible.

Let’s pray for the Democrats who hold these views, that they would reconsider what socialism has done everywhere it has been tried and would see the value of the freedoms they dismiss. Let’s pray for young voters who have been shaped by a culture of grievance and political hostility, that they would encounter truth and reject the lure of violence. Let’s pray for American leaders in both parties, that they would protect the border, uphold the rule of law, and refuse to exploit division for political gain. And let’s pray for the church, that it would be clear-eyed about the moment and faithful in its witness, remembering Proverbs 14:34: righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

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(Excerpt from The National Pulse. Photo Credit: InformedImages – Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=177396592).