Apparently, Americans aren’t interested in making their country look more like Scandinavia.
A Gallup poll released Monday shows that the majority of American voters would not be willing to vote for a presidential candidate who is a socialist, thereby dealing a substantial blow to Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ White House dreams.
Specifically, 50 percent of American adults identify themselves as unwilling to cast a vote for a socialist candidate nominated by their political party in 2016, while 47 percent would be willing to do so.
For comparison, 93 percent of voters are willing to support a Catholic, 92 percent a woman, and 74 percent a gay or lesbian candidate for president. “Socialist” scored lowest among the 11 characteristics mentioned in the poll.
The unpopularity of socialism is, unsurprisingly, much more severe among conservatives. Fifty-nine percent of Democrats would be willing to vote for a socialist like Sanders — who is running in the 2016 Democratic primary — making “socialist” the least popular characteristic among liberals behind “atheist.”
Meanwhile, 49 percent of Independents and a mere 26 percent of Republicans characterize themselves as willing to support a socialist candidate.
Millennials represent the generation most willing to vote for a socialist, with 69 percent of 18 to 29 year olds open to the possibility. Again, though, “socialist” is still the most unappealing characteristic cited in the poll even among young Americans.
Nevertheless, Sanders has been quite vocal about his identity as a socialist, suggesting in an interview last month that the United States should model itself after socialist Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Sweden.
The Gallup poll was conducted between June 2 and 7 and involved 1,527 American adults.
