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Impossible. It’s never happened before. Are you kidding? That’s how most political commentators – virtually across the spectrum – describe the likelihood of New York congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez becoming the next President of the United States. Even many that support her worry that she’s still too young, relatively experienced – and after all still “just” a congresswoman at this point. Shouldn’t she run for the US Senate in 2028 when long-time party oligarch Chuck Schumer’s seat is up?

Indeed, a poll this spring found AOC besting Schumer in a hypothetical Senate primary – and her margin of victory was stark: 55% to 36%, a whopping 19-point advantage. Experts caution that the poll is just an early snapshot and that AOC hasn’t even signalled a willingness to run, of course. Moreover, the polling – conducted in early April by the uber-liberal Data for Progress, which favors the progressive left– occurred right after Schumer voted with the GOP to avoid a government shutdown, a move that raised the ire of grassroot Democrats and led to widespread criticism of the New York incumbent. Were many Democrats just registering their disgust with Schumer by suggesting they might actually vote to unseat him?

That’s one explanation, but it’s clear that AOC’s star is beginning to rise well outside the tempestuous fishbowl of New York politics. Consider a spate of polls about who Democrats might favor as their presidential standard bearer in 2028. Two of those polls have found that AOC is now the front-runner for the nomination, besting Kamala Harris, whose own star is falling fast, and leaving a trail of other prospective candidates, including Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Hakeem Jeffries, in the dust. These polls have followed news of AOC’s numerous public appearances during “Fight the Oligarchy” rallies and town halls held across the country, which gave the New York congresswoman unprecedented press coverage and dramatically raised her public profile nationwide.

For better or worse, in many people’s minds, AOCis now the most visible face of the Democratic party in the aftermath of Trump’s devastating victory last November which has left the party “brand” in shambles. Democrats need a fresh direction – and fresh leadership – and many in the party, especially at the base, are clearly warming to AOC.

But apparently, it’s not just many Democrats. Another just released poll conducted by Atlas Intel – widely considered the most reliable political pollster in the country, due to its uncanny prediction of the results of the last two presidential elections – has found that voters overall, including some Republicans, have a favorable opinion of Ocasio-Cortez, too. In fact, the poll found that her favorability rating among the general electorate is not only positive overall, but it’s even higher than the favorability ratings for Joe Biden as well as President Trump. Biden and Trump’s net ratings were both “underwater” – with their negative ratings in the mid-50s, compared to their positive ratings in the 40s. AOC’s net +2 favorability rating – 46% to 44% with 10% still unsure – also bested that of JD Vance, the man she would most likely face in 2028 were she to win the Democratic party nomination. In fact, only Barack and Michelle Obama emerged from the Atlas poll with higher positive favorability ratings than AOC.

For many who have watched conservative try to savage – indeed, ridicule with thinly-veiled sexism – Ocasio-Cortez almost from the start, these latest polling results are a bit of a shocker – and a most welcome one.

Of course, none of this good news means that Ocasio-Cortez is “electable” should she choose to run for the Senate or the presidency. But it does suggest that positive opinions about her are much higher than many people across the spectrum seem to realize. AOC is clearly surviving the barrage of negative media coverage of her, especially in the right-wing echo chamber, but it appears that she is also using these attacks and her own vigorous self-defense and counter-attacks as a springboard to greater favorability.

Consider where she was: In 2024, polls gave AOC an “extremely unfavorable” rating of 33%, compared to just 17% viewing her “highly” favorably. Those results were actually an improvement over 2019, where she earned just a 23% favorability rating overall, with most respondents viewing her negatively. National Interest – a moderately conservative “America First” -type magazine – even headlined a profile of AOC by asking “Is the AOC era over?” But judging from these latest polls, and the growing media fanfare around the former bartender-turned-politico, the AOC “era” is really just beginning.

Right now, AOC’s gaining traction as a leading spokesperson for the anti-Trump resistance, highlighting the president’s role as a tyrant intent on boosting the interests of the “billionaire class.” But AOC is no mere populist ideologue. She’s also a three-term incumbent with a track record of policy positions to run on, based on her legislative record since her first breakthrough election (defeating a Democratic establishment stalwart) in 2018. True, she hasn’t sponsored major pieces of legislation on her own but she was a leading co-sponsor and advocate for the Green New Deal, which, despite attacks from the right, is still supported by an overwhelming majority (65%) of voters nationwide (including a plurality, 45% of Republicans). Her outspoken advocacy in the House has also produced a number of important amendments to bills that, for example, shifted $5 million from the failed war on drugs to treatment for opioid addiction, secured $10 million to clean up toxic bombardment sites in Puerto Rico and extended the ban on tenant evictions during COVID-19. She even got the ceiling on the number of Afghan evacuees from the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal increased to 200,000, a move that House conservatives welcomed. Small potatoes, say some, but the fact that these amendments passed when Republicans controlled the House and Senate is a testament to her tenacity and willingness to cajole and sometimes embarrass more senior colleagues on both sides of the aisle. No one doubts that AOC is a fighter – and though some still dismiss her as a grand-stander – she’s already developed real policy, and a measure of credibility unusual for a relative newcomer – indeed, the youngest person in history ever elected to the US Congress.

And that’s just her track record. AOC has another impressive – though perhaps more subtle – quality that is testament to her latent power: Many Republicans, and indeed, many Democrats, actually fear her. Not even Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)’s crass snubbing of AOC for a new committee role earlier this year – a plum new post that would have expanded her platform – has derailed AOPC’s remarkable ascent within the party. Indeed, among the public at large, it may well have enhanced her image.

Could a three-term congresswoman actually make it all the way to the White House? It seems unlikely, given opposition from Pelosi and other party poobahs, who generally refrain from criticizing AOC publicly. But few thought that a one-term senator from Illinois with a “funny” African name could come out of nowhere to dethrone Hillary Clinton in 2008. And times have changed substantially since the country embraced its first Black president. Indeed, with the rise of Trump, the idea that vast political experience is fundamental to a presidential candidate’s credibility seems to have gone completely by the boards. At this point AOC has even more national name recognition than Obama did three years before he emerged as the Democratic party standard-bearer. And voters are angry at establishment politicians – even angrier than when they first elected Trump in another political upset in 2016.

There’s also the fact that social media has transformed the political landscape, allowing political candidates to gain exposure and credibility – and funding – faster than ever before. AOC has amassed 13 million followers on X (formerly Twitter), 8.4 million followers on Instagram and 1.8 million on Facebook, numbers that dwarf those of other Democratic personalities and potential 2028 contenders (for example, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer boasts just 500,000 followers on X). AOC’s also the most followed user on the new Bluesky site, with 2 million followers as of March 2025. Were she to decide to activate this following to support a national election campaign, her “presence” – further enhanced by podcast interviews and TikTok postings galore – could prove quite formidable.

Especially with younger demographics, of course, and not just any youth. Gen Zers, especially, are the voting bloc that Trump proved amazingly adept at winning over last year, and one that naturally gravitates toward AOC . The recent Atlas poll suggests that young people AOC’s age or younger – which includes Millennials as well – are extremely supportive of her and have no doubt that she’s already “qualified” to be president. Could that same sentiment spill over to other key demographics? Last year, Kamala Harris, exuding celebrity appeal, and support from many women and voters of color, managed to gain traction with half the electorate, though even many Democrats considered her qualifications for the job dubious at best. Could the same mix of motives – a fresh vibrant voice of passion exuding undeniable drive and pizzazz and implacably hostile to Trump and MAGA – jolt the American electorate out of its current state of somnambulance and resignation?

Well, even some prominent conservatives seem to think so. Monica Crowley, a former Treasury Department official during the first Trump administration, told Fox News back in November that her fellow Republicans would do well to take the “threat” from Ocasio-Cortez seriously. “Just a word of warning to the Republicans, to my party: Do not underestimate AOC. She’s young, she’s vibrant, she’s attractive,” Crowley warned.

It’s still early, of course – way too early, some say, to pay attention to polls that reflect name recognition more than anything else. In fact, a more recent Atlas poll – released late last week – has found that Pete Buttigieg is now soaring into serious contention, possibly supplanting AOC as the party’s front-runner. The jockeying between the competing wings of the Democratic party will only grow more intense in the months ahead – and rest assured, if AOC continues to surge, more long knives against her will be brandished. Buttigieg made a serious run back in 2020, and after strong showing in Iowa, was considered a more palatable and moderate alternative to Bernie Sanders. He could well emerge as a compromise candidate between AOC and diehard center-right Democrats like Rahm Emmanuel. Stay tuned.

But again, it’s early. By one count, some 28 different Democrats are planning to make a play for the party nomination in 2028, many of them complete unknowns. That said, the political energy and momentum inside the party is clearly with the grassroots base, and there’s no question that Ocasio-Cortez – who just so happens to be a proud Latina at a time when the party’s standing with Hispanics as well as youth has crumbled – is still the odds-on favorite. Love her or hate her – and many seem to fall into one of those camps – the party will need AOC and her followers come election time – and even her most virulent critics know it.

Count AOC out all you like, but whether she runs and wins or not, the 35-year-old firebrand isn’t going anywhere – but up. And who knows, if her current ascendance continues, and Trump and the economy continue to disappoint, she may just carry the rest of the party with her.

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