CBS News poll on what partisans want from their parties ahead of 2026 primary season

The primary season begins in earnest this week, as partisans help set the parties’ directions and message ahead of the November midterm elections. So what do those partisans want?

Much of that revolves around their parties’ approach to someone not actually on the ballot: President Trump.

Rank-and-file Democrats are roughly split between wanting their party to talk about its own policy ideas – and, even more, talking mainly about how to stop Donald Trump.

Republicans, for their part, largely say it’s important to have GOP candidates who are supportive of Mr. Trump — at least somewhat, if not very supportive. This is especially important to MAGA Republicans. 

Those Democrats who call themselves liberal are even more likely to want the party to talk about stopping Mr. Trump. 

The Republicans, for their part, are not nearly as concerned about stopping Democrats, perhaps because their party is already in power.

Primaries can sometimes be a collective balancing act for voters, between what partisans want in a candidate and the strategic approach of anticipating what the wider electorate might want in a candidate.

Across all voters, it’s a fairly even split in appeal between voters who’d want a Democrat who’s thought of as liberal or progressive and one thought of as moderate. Within the Democrats’ own rank and file, there’s a slight tilt toward a progressive candidate over a moderate. All that illustrates a dynamic that’s sure to be a point of discussion within the party. 

Among those voters considering Republicans for Congress in 2026, the break is more heavily tilted toward a candidate considered in line with Mr. Trump than for a Republican considered more independent from him.

In all, asked which party they’d prefer to see control Congress next year, more voters right now say they’d prefer to see the Democrats do so than the Republicans.

On immigration

Republicans and Mr. Trump still do slightly better than Democrats on perceptions of who has the right approach to immigration policy, but Democrats have narrowed the gap since January. This comes as, in separate polling, Americans have expressed views that ICE is being too tough, and support for the deportation program has dropped since earlier in 2025.

But there are differences in who Americans think the parties are for. 

There’s a third of the country who think the Democratic Party puts the interests of recent immigrants ahead of those of U.S. citizens. Relatively few think it prioritizes the interests of citizens over recent immigrants, though a third think it prioritizes both.

This view is not brand new toward the Democratic Party. Ahead of the 2022 midterms, voters also voiced similar sentiments.

Meanwhile, most Americans think the GOP puts the interests of U.S. citizens ahead of those of recent immigrants.

On economics

On perceptions of economic policy, Democrats have drawn closer to Republicans, compared to January. That comes along with Americans’ continued negativity about the economy.

In terms of priorities and what they’re seen talking about: while most Americans over the course of recent years have called the economy a priority, today some think the Democrats are prioritizing cultural and social issues more than economic ones. That said, that view often comes from the opposing party. It’s mostly Republicans who think the Democrats focus on cultural issues. Democrats themselves feel they cover both.

Even so, neither party is seen by most as putting the interests of the middle class ahead of the wealthy, and on this matter specifically, far more think the GOP favors the wealthy.

Given a choice between describing the parties’ positions as generally “extreme” and “mainstream,” sizable numbers call them each extreme, but more voters overall view the stances of the Democratic Party as “mainstream” than say that of the Republicans’.

This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,264 U.S. adults interviewed between February 25-27, 2026. The sample was weighted to be representative of adults nationwide according to gender, age, race, and education, based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as 2024 presidential vote. The margin of error is ±2.5 points.