AOC has made herself a legit White House contender — and a GOP threat

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has come a long way since 2018.

When she first arrived on the political scene by beating out not just an incumbent, but a member of her party’s leadership in a Democratic primary contest, she was a rebel — an avatar of insurgent impulses within her coalition.

And, among Republicans, something of a joke.

Now, she’s the Democratic Party’s most popular elected official.

A Yale University poll released this week found that among Democrats, Ocasio-Cortez boasts the single highest net favorability rating of all the party’s many potential 2028 presidential candidates — a sky-high 62%.

In addition, 41% of the same cohort said they have a “strongly favorable” opinion of the progressive congresswoman — again, the largest proportion to say as much about any Democrat.

And when asked who they would support if the 2028 Democratic presidential primaries were held today, AOC finished a very strong second.

Former vice president Kamala Harris, at 28%, was the only prospective candidate to edge her out.

Ocasio-Cortez’s 21% placed her well ahead of bronze medalist Pete Buttigieg, at 14%.

It’s hard to overstate just how impressive a feat this is, especially considering the 35-year-old New Yorker also had the second-highest name recognition in the poll, behind only Harris.

Just 11.7% of the poll’s Democrats said they haven’t heard of or have no opinion of her, which makes her superb favorability rating all the more breathtaking.

But wait, there’s more.

Harris is a very, very soft front-runner, if she can even be called that.

The 2024 Democratic presidential nominee lost every single battleground state to Donald Trump last fall.

As Trump continues to facilitate liberal teeth-gnashing through his second term, anger at Harris over her dismal performance will only grow.

And so will Democrats’ appetite for a fire-breather like AOC, who can count on Sen. Bernie Sanders to throw his full weight behind her.

When one of Harris’ opponents on a primary debate stage asks her why voters should trust her to win this time around, what satisfying answer could she possibly produce?

She’s already 0-for-2 on the presidential campaign trail, since when Harris first ran for the presidency back in 2020, she flamed out spectacularly.

With AOC well-positioned to make a run at the Democratic nomination in 2028, no doubt some Republicans will be giddy at the prospect of facing down this self-described socialist with demonstrated champagne tastes.

National Review’s Rich Lowry has gone so far as to submit that if she’s the party’s future, Democrats stand no chance.

It’s true that any competent GOP campaign will make significant hay of AOC’s glaring vulnerabilities.

The Boston University economics and international relations major has regularly embarrassed herself on both topics.

Her Green New Deal package was so unpopular that it was mocked out of existence.

She lacks any of the executive or managerial experience that persuadable voters claim to value in a candidate.

And although she has a talent for stealing headlines, they’re often the wrong ones.

Her taste for the good life — glamming it up at the Met Gala (then stiffing designers on the bill) and taking first-class flights on her way to an anti-oligarchy rally — undermines her message to the working class.

As does her weepy open-borders advocacy.

But her potential opponents would be unwise to underestimate her.

She’s only just become constitutionally eligible for the Oval Office, but already has an adoring national following that hangs on her every word, as her cross-country tour with Sanders this month demonstrates.

The enthusiasm she inspires on the left is matched only by that which Trump evokes on the right.

“She is a rockstar, AOC,” one fan told The Post’s Kirsten Fleming at a rally in Idaho this week. “It’s like, Madonna and AOC.”

That’s not the only similarity between the current president and the woman who might very well be vying to succeed him.

While some of Ocasio-Cortez’s far-left positions — including her anti-fossil fuel crusade and support for punitive tax rates — would likely hurt her in the polls, it’s more important that she would offer Americans a bold vision.

After all, not every policy Trump campaigned on has been popular on its own.

Yet he’s overcome voters’ reservations about them because they come as part of a larger, coherent program that’s anything but timid.

As Ronald Reagan put it, the American electorate rewards those who bear banners of “bold unmistakable colors” rather than “pale pastels.”

AOC waves just such a banner — and has more raw political talent in her pinky than the last three Democratic nominees combined.

Seven years ago, she was a punchline.

But right now, she has as good a chance as anyone of becoming our next president

Isaac Schorr is a staff writer at Mediaite.