Populism — at least on the campaign trail and across the podcast universe — is on the rise, loud enough to rattle the windows of American politics. But it isn’t new. Versions of it have been around since Andrew Jackson, the Hero of New Orleans, and later Huey Long, Louisiana’s Depression-era firebrand who made “Every Man a King” a rallying cry.
Populism runs on outrage. It sets “the people” against “the elites.” It’s less an ideology than a political style, and it can flourish on both ends of the spectrum.
Today, President Donald Trump has shaped his own brand of populism on the right. It targets the cultural and political establishment as the enemy, including media gatekeepers, academics, bureaucrats, Hollywood moguls, nonprofits, think tanks and politically correct corporations.
Trump casts it in highly personal terms: “They’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you. I’m just standing in their way.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani represent populism on the left; they call it “democratic socialism.” They see the concentration of wealth and economic inequality as the central problem. Their villain is “the oligarchy” — a small class of billionaires and heartless corporations they believe control government.
Sanders puts it this way: “We are moving rapidly away from our democratic heritage into an oligarchic form of society … [with] government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires.”
Ideology and partisanship aside, how populist are Americans, really? An Economist/YouGov poll offers an answer, and it may surprise you.
Overwhelming majorities of U.S. voters nationwide — 86% and 88% — agree with two core populist beliefs: that “political institutions have been captured by the rich and powerful” and that “elites are out of touch with everyday life.” While these ideas are widely held across demographic groups, Americans 45 and older endorse them to a greater degree than do those 44 and younger.
More than 8 in 10 voters also agree that the “most important decisions in politics happen behind closed doors, without public accountability” — a classic expression of populist distrust — and that “graduating from a top university doesn’t automatically make someone better qualified to govern.” Again, older Americans are more likely to agree.
Another mark of populism is suspicion of expertise: 65% of voters say “the people, not experts or elites, should make most political decisions,” and 64% say “common sense is more important than expert analysis for deciding what the government should do.” Conservatives are much more likely to distrust experts than liberals.
But populism has its limits and internal contradictions. For example, 60% of voters agree that “complex societal problems need professional, organized government institutions to address them effectively.” Likewise, 59% say that “for many policies, ordinary people lack the information necessary to make good decisions.” In other words: yes, experts can be arrogant and wrong — but no, you don’t necessarily want your neighbor running monetary or foreign policy.
Here’s a populist belief with broad support that’s often thrown out the window: 78% of voters say “leaders who come from ordinary backgrounds better represent people like me.” More than three-fourths of Trump voters agree with this statement, even though Trump’s background is anything but ordinary — an Ivy League education, inherited wealth, hobnobbing with the rich and famous.
That gap is telling. A deep emotional connection with voters can sometimes overshadow a politician’s upper-crust background. Trump, John Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt — all elite by upbringing — have had that connection. Between them, they won seven presidential elections and lost one. Other politicians with privileged backgrounds, such as Mitt Romney and George H.W. Bush, haven’t had the connection; between them, they won one presidential election and lost four.
Interestingly, a 55% majority of voters believes “bipartisan agreement usually signals that a policy is reasonable and well thought out.” Populism may reject backroom dealing, but voters nevertheless want politicians to work together and find common ground.
Americans are largely populists who are skeptical of concentrated power in the hands of a sheltered few. They want politicians to listen and understand their needs. They want what Lincoln promised: a government of, by and for the people.
But when it comes to governing, even voters with populist instincts still want results and competence. That’s the winning combination for today’s politics.