70% say socialism would be good for the US, while just 25% think it would be bad
A new poll has shown a rise in popularity for socialism in America, with 70 percent of Democrats now saying it would be “a good thing” for the US, while just 25 percent see it as “a bad thing.”
While the idea of converting the country to a socialist state is popular among Democratic voters, 51 percent of voters overall say embracing socialism would be bad for the United States, according to the Gallup survey released Monday.
While only 25 percent of Democrats said “some form of socialism” would be “a bad thing for the country as a whole,” 84 percent of Republican-voting respondents said it would be bad for the U.S., while 48 percent of independents said the same.
According to News Thud, the survey results show socialism is rising in popularity in the US, with Gallup’s summary of the poll stating:
“Americans today are more closely divided than they were earlier in the last century when asked whether some form of socialism would be a good or bad thing for the country.
“While 51% of U.S. adults say socialism would be a bad thing for the country, 43% believe it would be a good thing.
“Those results contrast with a 1942 Roper/Fortune survey that found 40% describing socialism as a bad thing, 25% a good thing and 34% not having an opinion.”
Gallup’s writeup of the poll didn’t mention that most Democrats support some form of socialism, although it was included in the full survey results.
Meanwhile, establishment Democrats are attempting to distance themselves and the party from socialism in the run-up to the 2020 election.
“I do reject socialism as an economic system,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last month.
“If people have that view, that’s their view. That is not the view of the Democratic Party.”
According to the Daily Caller, two high-profile Democrats in the House, freshmen Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan are members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
The survey, which was conducted April 17-30 and had a margin of error of six percentage points, marked even more enthusiastic support for socialism among Democrats than in Gallup’s 2018 survey on the same subject.
The survey that year found that 57% of Democrats had a favorable view of socialism.
That survey also marked the first time that Democrats had a more favorable view of socialism than capitalism.
Although Democratic voters are increasingly comfortable with socialist ideas, the only open socialist in the party’s presidential primary, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, has consistently trailed former Vice President Joe Biden in national primary polls.
Biden is polling just above 38% in RealClearPolitics’ average of national polls, while Sanders is polling just below 19%.
Sanders has the full backing of the DSA.