Despite the lure of free healthcare, free college, open borders and a costly “Green New Deal,” voters reject socialism by a wide margin, casting doubt on the leftward lurch of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
A new Zogby Analytics survey found that 29 percent have a favorable view of socialism while 49 percent don’t.
And while Democrats have a favorable view of socialism, by a 44 percent to 26 percent margin, they thoroughly reject renaming the party after the Karl Marx philosophy.
“Among registered Democrats, it’s a whole different story. Only 13 percent want the national Democratic Party to be labeled a ‘socialist party,’ while 57 percent said no. Due to socialism’s unfavorable impression with all likely voters, Democrats are cautious to call themselves ‘socialists,’” said the analysis from pollster Jonathan Zogby.
The survey shows the difficult terrain for 2020 Democratic candidates who have begun to embrace positions considered somewhat socialist, including “Medicare for all,” open borders, childcare for all, the “Green New Deal,” and universal income, said Zogby.
He identified a key reason why voters are skeptical: Most believe that socialism gives the government even more power.
“A majority of likely voters believe that in a socialist system the government has more power than the individual. Could this be why so few Democrats are excited to call their national party a ‘socialist party?’ These results rang true among all demographics,” he said.
Still, Zogby made note of prior findings that Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has been described as socialist, beats Trump in head-to-head polling.
The key takeaways from the new survey provided to Secrets:
- Socialism is not popular with likely voters and Democrats despite their hard shift to “socialist style” policies, especially among the 2020 Democratic candidates.
- Millennials and Generation Z voters are likely to have a more favorable impression of socialism than older voters. Still 46-47 percent of likely voters aged 18-24 and 18-29 had an unfavorable impression of socialism.
- Financially vulnerable respondents-likely voters who recently lost their jobs, afraid of losing their jobs, gone without food in the last 24 hours, and those who are financially worse off than they were four years ago had the most favorable impression of socialism.
- Democrats were emphatic in their desire not to be labeled a “socialist party.” Only 13 percent want this. Not surprisingly, a majority of Republicans and conservatives would love this label because of the negative connotations it highlights.
- 2020 Democratic hopefuls need to be careful because even the most ardent Democrats don’t want the national party to be labeled as “socialist.” Socialism might get a lot of media attention and even be popular in some young circles, but our polling suggests it has an image problem. Only 29 percent of likely voters had a favorable impression of it and only a third of Democrats are favorable toward socialism.
