Research

July Current Events Survey

July 28, 2026

In July 2026, Galvanize Action surveyed ideologically-moderate women to see how they were feeling about current events.

QUESTION #1
Which of these descriptions of a political candidate appeals to you most?

Chart showing 61% want a political candidate who "fights for people like me" See table below for details

Someone who fights for people like me	61%
Someone who stands up to powerful interests	16%
Someone who isn’t afraid to take on the other party	13%
Someone who never backs down	8%
Someone who is aggressive	1%

The majority (61%) of respondents say the description of a political candidate that appeals to them most is “Someone who fights for people like me.” Only 1% of respondents say they found the description “Someone who is aggressive” most appealing.

QUESTION #2
When you picture a politician “fighting” for you, who are they fighting against?

Chart showing that when women picture a politician "fighting" for them, they imagine fighting against the wealthy/powerful, then no one in particular

The wealthy and powerful	35%
No one in particular	27%
The other political party	19%
Big corporations	12%
Washington insiders	8%

Just over a third (35%) of women surveyed say that when they picture a politician fighting for them, the politician is fighting against “the wealthy and powerful.” However, just over a quarter (27%) say they picture “no one in particular” which indicates they like the idea of a politician fighting for them, not that they have anyone in mind they’d like to defeat.

QUESTION #3
How much do you like or dislike political leaders who identify as democratic socialists?

Chart showing 48% of women neither like nor dislike democratic socialists

Dislike a lot	21%
Dislike a little	13%
Neither like nor dislike	48%
Like a little	10%
Like a lot	8%

Nearly half (48%) of moderate white women surveyed say they neither like nor dislike political leaders who identify as democratic socialists. More respondents say they dislike these leaders (34%) than say they like them (18%). We know from past research that women in our audience tend to remain neutral or conflict-avoidant when presented with potentially controversial topics, and the phrase “socialism” tends to be considered controversial, so it’s possible that some respondents remained neutral for social desirability. However, if taken at face value, these findings indicate that nearly half of moderate women have not yet formed an opinion on the topic.

QUESTION #4
Thinking about the 2026 congressional elections in November, do you think which party wins control of Congress…

Chart showing 64% think it matters a lot which party wins control of congress

Matters a lot	64%
Matters a little	25%
Doesn’t matter at all	11%

The majority of respondents (64%) say that it matters a lot which party wins control, and an additional quarter (25%) say it matters a little. Taken together with the results of Question #6, despite 89% of respondents saying the results of the midterms matter at least a little, only 81% plan to cast a vote.

QUESTION #5
How motivated, if at all, would you say you are to vote in the 2026 midterm elections?

Chart showing most women (66%) are motivated to vote.

Less motivated than I usually am	15%
I’m rarely motivated to vote, and this election is no different	19%
I’m always motivated to vote, and this election is no different	36%
More motivated than I usually am	30%

The majority (66%) of women surveyed report being motivated to vote in the 2026 midterm elections, whether that is normal for them (36%) or they are more motivated than usual (30%). Compared to when we asked a different sample of moderate white women the same question in April of this year, we see fewer women this month saying they are more motivated than usual (30% this month compared to 35% in April), but we also see more women who say they are rarely motivated to vote (19% compared to 15%). It is therefore possible that this particular sample is less politically active than the sample from April and not indicative of a change over time.

QUESTION #6
Which of the following best describes your plan to vote in the 2026 midterm elections?

Graph showing that broadly, between January and July, women are less likely to vote for democrats and more likely to say they do not plan to vote. Details in table below.

I plan to vote Democrat	32%
I plan to vote Republican	28%
I plan to vote, but I’m not sure yet how I’ll vote	21%
I do not plan to vote	19%

While more women surveyed say they plan to vote Democrat (32%) than Republican (28%), just under a quarter (21%) say they are not sure yet how they’ll vote, and 19% say they do not plan to vote in the midterms at all. When compared to results from previous months (with different samples of moderate white women), we see a potential trend in the amount of respondents saying they do not plan to vote, with the number increasing since the start of the year (13% in January, 15% in April, 16% in May, and 18% in June). It should also be noted, however, that we know from Question #5 that this particular sample is rarely motivated to vote.