Self-professed “Democratic” socialists Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have reason to celebrate this week.
Democrats today favor socialism over capitalism by a margin of 10 percentage points, according to a survey released Monday by Gallup.
About 57 percent of self-identified Democrats said they hold a “positive” view of socialism, while only 47 percent said the same of capitalism, the survey reported.
The issue here isn’t that this is the highest level of support for socialism among Democrats in the decade that Gallup has tracked this specific measurement. The issue here is that this is the most lopsided that the Democratic split on socialism vs. capitalism has been since Gallup first started tracking opinions on this issue.
“Attitudes toward socialism among Democrats have not changed materially since 2010, with 57% today having a positive view,” Gallup explained in a blog post.
The post added, “The major change among Democrats has been a less upbeat attitude toward capitalism, dropping to 47% positive this year — lower than in any of the three previous measures. Republicans remain much more positive about capitalism than about socialism, with little sustained change in their views of either since 2010.”
In 2016, 56 percent of Democrats held a positive view of capitalism, while 58 percent said the same for socialism. In 2012, 55 percent said they had a positive view of capitalism, while 53 percent said the same for socialism.
Again, the new Gallup poll, which was performed from July 30-Aug. 5 and surveyed some 1,505 U.S. adults, didn’t find a huge shift in favor of socialism so much as it found socialism remains popular while views on capitalism have declined.
It’s worth noting here that the survey did not provide respondents with formal definitions of “socialism” or “capitalism.” Rather, it asked respondents only “whether their opinion of each is positive or negative.”
Gallup suggests the decline in support for capitalism may be tied to Democrats’ opinions of President Trump, whose wealth was acquired in the real estate business. Gallup also suggests Democrats’ feelings about capitalism have declined in proportion to the rise of self-professed socialists Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez.
“The majority of Democrats have viewed socialism positively each time Gallup has measured the concept since 2010, and — despite the increased visibility given to the concept this year — those views have not changed substantively. But the drop in Democrats’ positive views of capitalism this year has for the first time left Democrats more positive about socialism as a concept than about capitalism,” Gallup explained.
The group added, “It’s possible that the drop in Democrats’ positive views of capitalism is related to Donald Trump’s presidency. Trump is an enthusiastic capitalist, and his administration’s efforts to roll back regulations on business and industry, as well as the tax cut law that is advantageous to businesses and corporations, may have caused Democrats to view the entire capitalist enterprise with less positive eyes.”
All of this is to say: 2020 should be exciting.
Republicans overwhelmingly prefer capitalism to socialism (71 percent to 16 percent, according to Gallup). At the rate that Democrats are going, the next election may very well feature a showdown between a Queens real estate tycoon and an outright, self-professed socialist.
