Poll: Democrats Increasingly Favor Socialism over Capitalism

Democrats are increasingly viewing socialism more positively than capitalism, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday.

While Republicans’ view of socialism has only grown more wary over the years, 65 percent of Democrats have a positive view of socialism “moving from 53 percent in 2010 and 2012 to over 60 percent in the past two surveys,” the report states. Only 14 percent of Republicans have a more positive view of socialism, though the majority prefer capitalism.

According to the poll report, 72 percent of Republicans and 52 percent of Democrats have a “positive image of capitalism.” Americans have overall “remained relatively steady” over the years in holding negative views of socialism, coming in a 38 percent positive and 59 percent negative.

“Americans’ opinions of capitalism have generally been stable over the past decade, with around six in 10 having a positive view of capitalism and slightly fewer than four in 10 having a positive view of socialism. Democrats view both economic systems favorably, but have become more positive toward socialism than capitalism,” the report states.

Gallup research found that Americans, “particularly Democrats,” are more likely to conflate socialism with “equality and government provision of benefits and services.”

“When Gallup polled Americans on the meaning of socialism in 1949, the largest proportion described it in the traditional sense as government ownership of the means of economic production. Thus, the meaning of the term to Americans is evolving, but most still view it negatively,” according to the report.

Another recent poll from Fox News comparing attitudes toward socialism and capitalism rendered similar findings. According to the poll, which was conducted on August 7-10, 59 percent of registered Democrats had a “positive view of socialism” compared to 49 percent who felt the same way about capitalism.

“The trend toward socialism among Democrats comes at a time when members of Congress such as self-described democratic socialists Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have had a growing influence on Democratic politics,” Fox News reported.

At least 44 percent of Democrats viewed capitalism unfavorably. Only 31 percent thought socialism is better left in the history books. Unsurprisingly, Republicans were bigger fans of capitalism, with 67 percent viewing it favorably.

A mere eight percent of Republicans expressed fondness for socialism.

Socialism among Democrats also showed a similar trend of gaining support in the Fox News poll.  In February 2020, 50 percent of Democrats still liked capitalism, and just 40 percent supported socialism.

The Gallup poll was conducted on October 1 through October 19, 2021 with 823 U.S. adults. The margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.