In a national Democratic Party increasingly dominated by self-described socialists such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, it’s easy to think all Democrats are down with the Green New Deal and socializing healthcare. But Super Tuesday exit polling suggests otherwise.
In Texas, for instance, almost 45% of Democratic primary voters said they don’t view socialism favorably. In Maine, roughly one-third of primarygoers didn’t support socialism either. A majority, 53%, of Tennessee Democratic primary voters rejected socialism.
And in North Carolina, 42% opposed socialism. Even in California, 33% didn’t support it.
Democratic voters on socialism in NBC exit poll:
FAV UNFAV
CA: 54 33
NC: 48 42
TN: 47 44
TX: 57 37— Shannon Pettypiece (@spettypi) March 3, 2020
Keep in mind that the kind of people who vote in primaries tend to be more left-wing or right-wing, respectively, than your average party member or voter. So, regular Democrats who didn’t vote in the primary are probably substantially less likely to view socialism favorably.
Why does this all matter? Well, if the Democrats nominate Sanders, conservatives will (wisely) turn the general election into a referendum on socialism.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden as a nominee wouldn’t be nearly as vulnerable to this kind of criticism, seeing as, while he does support a large government, he still supports the bones of the capitalist system (unlike Sanders, who has a long record of sympathizing with communist and socialist dictators).
It would already be a tough sell for Democrats to convince general-election voters, who love the strong economy under President Trump, to flip to their side. But the Super Tuesday exit polling suggests that they might have a hard time convincing even Democrats to back a socialist such as Sanders.
