As the ideal of Popular democracy came out of prepositions of Populism (ex: popular rule in democracy is fairer than elitist parliaments; decisions by general referendums are fairer than decisions by limited groups like parliaments and governments), and as platforms of certain groups claiming to be popular democratic are very similar to those of various democratic and undemocratic populist movements, there is discussion on the relation between both political philosophies.
Pošto je ideal Narodne demokratije proizašao iz predloga Populizma (npr: popularno pravilo u demokratiji je pravednije od elitističkih parlamenata; odluke opšteg referenduma su pravednije od odluka ograničenih grupa poput parlamenata i vlada), i platforme određanih grupa koje tvrde da su Narodno demokratske su vrlo slične nekim  raznim demokratijama i poddemokratskim populističkim pokretima, postoji diskusija na temu povezanosti između obe političke filozofije.