Politics

Most Democrats Now Prefer Socialism To Capitalism

Screencap/PBS

Garth Kant Contributor
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Most Democrats now appear to prefer socialism over capitalism, according to a new Gallup poll released Monday.

As Gallup put it, “For the first time in Gallup’s measurement over the past decade, Democrats have a more positive image of socialism than they do of capitalism.”

The shift is due to both an increase in Democrats’ positive view of socialism and a drop in their positive view of capitalism.

In 2010, 53% of those surveyed who lean Democrat had a positive view of socialism. That bumped up to 57% in 2018.

But 53% of those Democrats also had a positive view of capitalism in 2010, and that number dropped to just 47% in 2018.

Perhaps most telling, the sharpest drop in Democratic support for capitalism is recent. In 2016, capitalism was viewed positively by 56% of those leaning Democrat. In 2018, that number dropped to 47%. That is a drop of 9% of Democrats who view capitalism positively in just the last two years.

With the rise in popularity of such socialists as 2016 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders and 2018 congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Gallup noted, “Views of socialism among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are particularly important in the current political environment because many observers have claimed the Democratic Party is turning in more of a socialist direction.”

Fox news anchor Bret Baier tweeted this observation about the Gallup poll: “This will not help with House or Senate Dem seats in red or purple states — and there are quite a few of them.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Gallup found that Republican support of capitalism remained strong. It was viewed positively by 72% in 2010 and 71% in 2018. Socialism was viewed positively by only 17% of Republicans in 2010 and 16% in 2018.