Could AOC Actually Be The Next President Of the United States?

Until this week, most people likely did not take seriously the idea that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) could win the presidency in 2028. But that perception is shifting.

A new poll from The Argument/Verasight found that Ocasio-Cortez would receive 51% of the vote in a hypothetical matchup against Vice President JD Vance, the presumptive GOP frontrunner. 

Shortly after, Ocasio-Cortez shared the results on X with the caption: "Bloop!"

While some analysts quickly dismissed the poll, Fox News Radio host Guy Benson, one of the more objective voices in political commentary, did not.

"I can’t see [AOC] winning the presidency," Fox Business host Stuart Varney told Benson on Thursday. "Can you?"

"Yes," Benson replied. "I would not bet on it, but I think it’s absolutely possible. If she ran for president, she’d have at least a decent fighter’s chance to win the nomination. I don’t think she’d be the front-runner, and I’m not sure she’d win it, but I do think there’s a real possibility."

Benson added that in the United States, presidential elections typically come down to a binary choice.

"In a normal election cycle, I don’t think she could win. But if the public were fed up with Republicans or the incumbents and she represented major change, I could absolutely see her winning," he concluded.

He is right. 

Considering that Democratic primary voters appeared to prefer Bernie Sanders in both 2016 and 2020 until party leaders intervened, it is not far-fetched to suggest that Ocasio-Cortez could win the nomination in 2028. At that point, in theory, the general election is a 50-50 race.

Still, like Benson, we would not bet on Ocasio-Cortez becoming the next President of the United States. 

Internal Democratic polling last year found that swing voters had largely rejected Kamala Harris because they felt her policies were too far to the left of the median voter. Ocasio-Cortez is, by definition, more radical than Harris.

Furthermore, polling this far out (or even a week before the election) is hardly bulletproof. As was the case with Sanders, party leadership would likely prefer a candidate such as Gavin Newsom, whom they can more easily package as a moderate. However, as former California residents can attest, his record suggests otherwise.

Regardless, the prospect of an Ocasio-Cortez presidency should be taken seriously, however concerning that may be for the foundation of America.