Politics and views in the United States

More Americans support democratic socialist ideas despite their minority in the Democratic Party, an ICE agent shoots a man in New York City, and polls show Puerto Rico statehood is a deciding issue for Hispanic voters in this year’s midterms.

Transcript

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

I think in reality, what it actually means in the American context is that you want to replace American workers with foreign workers and you want boys to play in girls sports.

That's what unites the socialists that I see running across the United States of America today.

This is Vice President J.D. Vance's definition of socialism.

Though Republicans blame Democratic socialist ideas for raising the federal debt, data show Americans have warmed up to socialism.

A new Gallup poll finds 43% of Americans view socialism positively, the highest since polling of Americans' views of economic systems began in 2010.

But other reports show Democratic Socialist candidates are only a fraction of those running in this year's midterms.

States like Maryland have seen DSA candidates win state legislative races, though efforts to win federal elections haven't gone as well.

Other polls show these candidates aren't reaching black and brown voters.

Christiane Marguerite with Progressive Maryland suggests Democratic politicians lean further into economic populism, that challenges capitalism and the status quo.

When people organize, come together, and elect the candidates who we can trust to be a voice for us in government and actually be working to shift the power, then that's how we win.

Advocates are demanding action after an ICE agent shot a man in New York City with his five-year-old child in the car.

Early information finds agents were attempting to arrest someone when another person who wasn't part of the arrest was shot.

The man was taken to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

It comes less than a month after ICE agents shot a man in Austin with more than two dozen people having been shot by federal immigration enforcement this year.

Yaritza Mendez is with Make the Road New York.

These are not officials who have gone rogue.

This is an agency that has been armed to the teeth and given an unlimited budget in service of a xenophobic agenda.

The violence is the point.

Terrorizing our families is the point.

Mayor Zohar Mamdani is asking President Donald Trump and all immigration enforcement in the city, and Governor Kathy Hochul is demanding a full and transparent investigation into the shooting.

In the lead-up to the midterms, PNS is highlighting important polls.

A new poll finds Puerto Rico's statehood is a deciding issue for Hispanic voters nationwide this year.

More than two-thirds of Hispanic voters and Puerto Ricans support this as a way to reduce costs for the island territory's families.

Other polls show most American voters support statehood, but this isn't across the political spectrum.

Martin Rivera with the Puerto Rico Statehood Council says statehood can help with the territory's pending Medicaid cliff.

Puerto Rico is treated differently than the states when it comes to several benefits, including Medicaid.

And instead of the amount allotted and the federal matching rate that's allotted based on poverty level, Puerto Rico gets a block grant.

Medicaid is the island's primary health care system, and Puerto Rico's current $4 billion block grant expires in September 2027.

Without congressional action, the funding reverts to baseline levels, dropping federal contributions to less than a quarter of previous funding.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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