The Democratic Party is one of the two major political groups in the United States. Most people who support the Democratic Party consider themselves to be on the liberal side of history. One of the policies this group holds close to its heart is gun control. While guns are protected by the Constitution, Democrats look at the mass shootings that plague the United States and want to fix the problem. Another policy Democrats care about is the right for a woman to have an abortion. Democrats believe women should have the right to choose when it comes to their bodies.
There are plenty of Democratic leaders who are popular among the American people. Jimmy Carter is arguably the most beloved Democratic president in the United States. During his time in office, he helped rescue tons of people who dodged the Vietnam War. They were sent to prison for refusing to fight. The war was controversial and not every American supported fighting in it, which Carter seemingly understood.
Another Democrat who’s making her way up the political ladder is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She’s been a popular figure for Democratic women around the United States to look up to since her inauguration into office in 2019. Ocasio-Cortez has been one of the loudest Democrats when calling for change. She’s also one of the first politicians to use social media to her advantage. For more Democrat content, click here to read about the most popular Democrats among baby boomers.
To compile this list of the most popular Democrats among Americans, 24/7 Tempo consulted a survey conducted by YouGov.
1. Jimmy Carter
Even though he only served one term as president, Jimmy Carter’s four years were filled with work to do. When he first entered office, Carter made it a priority to pardon those who were in jail for dodging the Vietnam War. The war was controversial, and plenty of Americans who were drafted didn’t believe in going to battle. Carter made sure they were released. This wasn’t the only thing Carter did to cement his legacy, though.
Carter helped establish the Department of Energy and Department of Education during his time in office. He saw the need to have a centralized group of people ensuring the United States was using energy correctly. He also saw the importance in holding teachers to a higher standard. While he ran for re-election, he lost to Ronald Reagan in one of the most lopsided finishes in election history. Carter’s popularity has continued to rise since his departure from office.
2. Barack Obama
Before Barack Obama, no African-American had held the title of President in the United States. During his time in the Oval Office, Obama accomplished a lot. For starters, he was in charge of the mission that led to the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden was the man who orchestrated the September 11th attacks, as well as countless other terrorist assaults throughout the world. While Obama’s brilliant course of action didn’t revive any deaths, countless people felt like the chapter closed after Bin Laden’s death.
Obama had his focus on climate change during his second term in office. One way he wanted to combat the climate crisis was by reducing the amount of emissions that goes into the air. Fewer natural gases and carbon dioxide are used to create energy, unless they are the only sources of energy possible. Even after leaving office, Obama continues to be someone many African-Americans look up to.
3. Bernie Sanders
While he’s never been elected as president, Bernie Sanders has created a community of people who love and adore him. Sanders first came onto the scene during the 2016 election. Rather than take money from large corporations, Sanders raised money only through the donations of people who believed in his message. He passed out fliers with information telling people about the things he’d do as president.
One of Sanders biggest talking points is free college education for everyone. He believes that education is a right, not a privilege. Sanders also thinks that the rich should pay more taxes and that there shouldn’t be countless loopholes that they can jump through to avoid paying anything. Sanders tried to run again for the Democratic nomination in 2020, but came up short to future president Joe Biden.
4. Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton went from being the First Lady of the United States to nearly becoming the first woman to be elected president in 2016 when she faced off against Donald Trump. Clinton won the popular vote against Trump, but he won the electoral college vote. In the United States, the electoral college is used to help give candidates points for winning each state. The higher the population, the more points given to the candidate.
Clinton ran under the ideas of helping middle-class families and giving universal pre-school. Unlike kindergarten through high school, pre-school isn’t free. It’s where countless children go to learn social skills and what school is going to be like when they start. Those who attend pre-school often do better when they reach kindergarten, since they already have experience learning new things and being in a classroom. Clinton’s loss has resulted in the continuation of this issue.
5. Elizabeth Warren
Another woman who came close to winning the Democratic nomination is Elizabeth Warren. She’s a Senator from Massachusetts who finished in third place among Democratic nominees in 2020. Warren is a Democrat who strongly believes in women’s rights and giving equal opportunity to all. She’s quickly become one of the faces of the progressives in the Democratic Party. Progressives believe in changing how things in the United States are done, and she’s one of those believers.
During her time as a Senator, Warren has been part of the group who passed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This helps low-income college students afford food and meals during their time studying, so that their main focus can be on learning and getting the best jobs they can. Warren has also been part of regulating the banking industry ever since she was elected into the Senate.
6. Bill Clinton
The 42nd president was Bill Clinton, and his time in office is one of the most remembered of any president. During his first four years in office, Clinton passed the North American Free Trade Agreement. This enabled the United States, Canada, and Mexico to be able to trade goods with each other without having to go through the regular barriers and hoops that comes with trading with other foreign countries.
Clinton’s second term in office was looking good, until the Monica Lewinsky scandal came up. Lewinsky was an intern at the White House who accused Clinton of having consensual relations with her in the Oval Office. There was an investigation into these accusations and Clinton was in the process of being impeached as president when his second term officially ended. Despite the accusations, Clinton’s wife, Hilary, stayed by his side through it all.
7. Kamala Harris
When Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Kamala Harris became the highest ranking African-American woman in politics in the United States. Prior to her becoming Vice-President, Harris was a Senator from California. During her time as a Senator, Harris worked on trying to create tighter gun-control laws and trying to decriminalize marijuana at a federal level. She also has worked to help create easier paths for immigrants to become citizens of the United States.
Since becoming Vice-President, Harris has put her focus into human trafficking throughout the United States and Central America. Harris has also been a voice for women’s rights and the dismantling of laws that don’t allow women to do what they see fit with their body. Once her term as Vice-President concludes, it’s likely that Harris will run for president. She’s seen Biden do it successfully and has the blueprint on the correct way to transition.
8. Madeleine Albright
It’s impressive to become the Secretary of State in the United States. Madeleine Albright had even more hoops to jump through during her journey into political power. She was born in Europe during the 1930s before World War II. She moved around with her family before ultimately settling in Denver, Colorado as a teenager. Albright brought the experiences of living in Europe with her as she began her climb up the political ladder.
Before becoming Secretary of State, Albright was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. During that time, Albright put her attention into the genocide that was going on in Rwanda. Many people around the world didn’t understand what was going on until the movie “Hotel Rwanda” was released. The film accurately depicted the genocide. Because she wasn’t born in the United States, Albright was unable to run for the presidency before her death. There are some people who believe she would have won if she could have run.
9. Joe Biden
After serving as the Vice-President under Barack Obama, Joe Biden was elected as the 46th President of the United States in 2020. During his campaign, Biden talked about his desire to eliminate student debt that young people had accumulated since going to college. Another principle Biden ran on was protecting illegal immigrants, especially those who are protected under DACA. DACA protects children who come to the United States illegally with their family at a young age.
Biden also helped the United States navigate life after the COVID-19 Pandemic was ending. It took a little while for society to get back to what life was like before the pandemic hit the world, but Biden did his best to assist the people of the United States. In 2024, it appears like the United States is heading towards another election that will feature Biden and Donald Trump. Biden got the better of Trump the first time around.
10. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Most people in their late 20s are settling down and are just getting themselves fully established in their careers. For Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that meant being elected into the House of Representatives. From the second she took office, Ocasio-Cortez has made her mark on politics in the United States. She’s not afraid of anyone and she will confidently stand up for everything she believes in.
One of the issues that’s closest to her heart is the right for a woman to choose what happens to her body. Ocasio-Cortez is also passionate about immigrants and the rights that they have. Growing up in New York City, Ocasio-Cortez interacted with countless people from different places around the world. As of 2024, she’s only 33 years old and seemingly has a long political career ahead of her. When she’s of age to run for president in the 2028 election cycle, don’t be shocked to see her name come up on the ballot.
11. Al Gore
One of the closest presidential elections in history came down to George W. Bush and Al Gore. The former Vice-President under Bill Clinton ran for the presidency immediately after his vice-presidency concluded. Gore was one of the first people in politics to talk about climate change and bring attention to it. He has dedicated nearly all of his resources to helping climate control and creating a better world for those living in it long after he dies.
In the 2000 election, Gore won the popular vote by 500,000 people. Considering there were 111 million people who voted in that election, a difference of only 500,000 shows how close the final results were. Bush won the electoral college by 5 points, 271 to 266. Gore asked for Florida to be recounted numerous times to ensure the proper tallies were given before he ultimately conceded to Bush.
12. Pete Buttigieg
With the advances in cars and other modes of transportation, Pete Buttigieg has his plate full as the Secretary of Transportation of the United States. The idea of self-driving cars and more efficient ways of transportation are what Buttigieg is tasked with maintaining. Before this position, Buttigieg was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He has military experience and seems to be on the fast track to political power in the United States.
Buttigieg also happens to be part of the LGBTQ community. Before taking the role he currently has, Buttigieg ran for president in 2020. He became the first openly gay man to run a campaign as part of a major political party and win a state caucus. While he didn’t win the election, he paved the way for himself and other members of the LGBTQ community to run for office. He also serves as someone that members of this community can look to for inspiration.
13. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Few families are as powerful in the United States as the Kennedy Family. There have been multiple senators and even a president that come from the Kennedys. One of the members of the family who’s made his intentions on running for president clear is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
He has also opened up about different conspiracy theories that he believes in. Time will tell how many people agree with Kennedy Jr. and the different things he’s convinced of. Unlike many Democrats, Kennedy has been vocal about his concern regarding vaccines of any kind since the early 2000s.
14. Beto O’Rourke
The idea of a Democrat being in charge of Texas seems foreign and nearly insane. However, Beto O’Rourke nearly edged out Greg Abbott for the governorship of Texas in 2022. O’Rourke also ran for the presidential seat in 2020, where he wouldn’t get the nomination. Still, O’Rourke has gained a following for the fight he put up in the Texas governor election. Texas is a state that Republicans could always count on, but might become blue in the near future.
O’Rourke believes in gun control, something a large part of Texas didn’t agree with for a long time. After the shooting at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, O’Rourke made headlines when he ran up to Abbott begging for a change to the laws in Texas. There’s no telling how successful O’Rourke will be in the future, but he’s set himself up to have a long and successful political career.
15. John Kerry
Another member of the Democratic Party who has put a lot of energy into climate control is John Kerry. He served as the 68th Secretary of State in the United States under Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017. He also served as a focal point for the Israel-Palestine peace talks that have been going on for decades. Kerry signed the Paris Agreement that focussed on climate change for the United States.
Before doing that, Kerry served as a Senator from Massachusetts. His focus in the 1980s was the drug problem that quickly escalated and ran rampant throughout the United States. He targeted the Latin countries where the drugs were coming from and tried his best to cease the distribution of the drugs. Since leaving his post under Obama, Kerry has worked under Joe Biden as a leader in climate control and research.
16. Al Franken
People who work in the entertainment industry often have political beliefs they’re comfortable publicly sharing. Rarely do any of the people in entertainment run for office to make a change in the world. Al Franken was a member of “Saturday Night Live” before wanting to make more of a political change. He ran for a senator position from Minnesota in 2008, and won. For two terms, Franken served the United States and Minnesota.
One of the issues Franken held closest to his heart was homelessness. During his time as a Senator, Franken often looked into the different ways he could help people escape homelessness and land on their feet. Another thing Franken was known for in office was trying to grant people more access to healthcare and health insurance. For more political content, click here to read about the most watched presidential debates in history.