Many polls have shown support for some of her proposals, such as medicare for all. No doubt about that. Some of her other proposals though, like abolishing ICE, don’t fare as well.

More importantly, polls have consistently shown that more than 90% of Americans believe that their taxes are either too high already or just about right. And as I mentioned in another response, to do everything she wants to do, I believe we’d have to raise taxes by substantial margins, and not just on the 1%. In my opinion, I don’t think we’re at a point where most Americans are prepared to pony up enough tax money to do everything she wants to do.

It’s also worth noting that another recent poll shows that more than 70% of Americans would not vote for a self-described socialist.And as someone else in the comments mentioned, most of the progressive candidates she has supported in the primaries lost to establishment-backed candidates.

To be clear, none of this is meant to be an assessment of the quality of her ideas. That’s a totally different subject that I wasn’t interested in delving into with this piece. Plus, I actually agree with her on a few issues (climate change, criminal justice, and a couple others). But on balance, I’d argue that her views fall far outside the standard liberal-conservative spectrum that Americans are accustomed to, even if they like some of her individual ideas.

But that could easily change, which is, of course, one of the primary points of the piece. And if establishment Reps and Dems keep dragging their feet on many of the issues Ocasio-Cortez is campaigning on, her brand of politics could become a lot more popular in a much shorter period of time (again, just my opinion, but I feel pretty strongly about that).