Nearly Half Of Democrats Say They Have ‘Favorable’ View Of Socialism: I&I/TIPP Poll

How do Americans respond to the economic and political system known as socialism? For a decade or two after the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe countries and other nations, the idea became untenable. Now, however, socialism has regained popularity among many, in particular Democrats, as the June I&I/TIPP Poll demonstrates.

In the latest online national poll, taken from May 26 through May 28, 1,589 voting-age respondents were asked the following question: “In general, do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of socialism?”

Those answering the poll, which has a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points, were surprisingly sanguine in their views: 33% said they were either “very favorable” (12%) or “somewhat favorable” (21%) toward socialism, compared to just 44% who said they were “somewhat unfavorable” (19%) or “very unfavorable” (25%) toward socialism.

Another 23% said they were “unsure.”

So one out of three voters in America thinks socialism is a good system.

But who are they? Mostly, Democrats. Among members of the Democratic Party, a plurality of 46% find socialism favorable, versus 32% unfavorable. Independents are slightly less, at 27% favorable, 44% not favorable, a plurality but not a majority.

Only among Republicans does an actual majority not like socialism: 26% favorable versus 58% unfavorable. But note also that even among GOP members, the conservative party of our tripartite system, one in four find socialism favorable.

It goes beyond party affiliation, with sharp splits by age (18 to 24 years, 44% favorable, and 25 to 44 years, 42% favorable), dropping with advancing age (45 to 64 years, 27% favorable and 65 years-plus, down to 21% favorable).

Men and women also split: Men (38% favorable) lean more toward socialism than women (28% favorable), though a plurality of both still find socialism unfavorable. Similarly, white Americans (29% favorable) are somewhat less pro-socialism than African-Americans and Hispanics (39% favorable).

A bigger shock: 44% of investors feel favorably toward socialism, but just 28% of non-investors do.

This wasn’t the only question. I&I/TIPP also asked: “Which economic system do you believe offers Americans a better future?”

Once again the answer surprised: only a third (33%) responded “capitalism,” while 16% said “socialism” and 26% opined “both equally.” Nearly a quarter (24%) said “not sure.”

How could this be? Again, Democrats. That party’s members picked socialism (21%) over capitalism (20%), with 35% saying both equally. By comparison, independents chose capitalism (32%) over socialism (16%) and both equally (26%). Republicans selected capitalism (49%) by a wide margin over socialism (12%) and both equally (20%).

So the only group actually to prefer socialism is the Democratic Party.

But why? We asked Americans: “Which comes closer to your view?”, followed by three choices.

The first possible response, “More Americans support socialism because they believe the economic system is unfair to working people,” won 23% support; the second possible response, “More Americans support socialism because they want greater government benefits and programs,” also won 23% backing.

But the big winner was “Both equally,” at 29%, while “neither” picked up just 11% support.

What does all this say? Perhaps that capitalism needs a new ad agency.

Calling the rise of socialism among Democrats “stunning,” CNN’s poll analyst Harry Enten recently notes, “Capitalism has absolutely fallen through the floor.”

But it should be clear: Even while 46% of Dems in the I&I/TIPP Poll find socialism favorable, 26% of Republicans and 27% of independents do too. That means not just Democrats are cooling on capitalism, but GOP and indie voters are also.

This trend has been developing for a while. A poll by the left-leaning Data for Progress group and reported by Politico found that “more than half of likely Democratic voters prefer socialist-aligned figures like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani to establishment politicians like Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi.”

While Americans seem unbothered by the prospect of socialism, do they know what it actually is?

Economist Daniel Mitchell, president of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, notes the traditional economic definition of socialism: 1. “Government ownership of the means of production.” 2. “Central planning to determine the allocation of labor and capital.” 3. “Price controls as a necessary consequence of items #1 and #2.”

Are those what voters mean when they say “socialism”? If so, it is a matter of economic history that none of those policies have ever worked in actual practice. Indeed, they’ve led mainly to poverty and economic decline, as multiple studies have shown.

In its poll, Data for Progress defines Democratic Socialists as those who believe “that the government should take a more active role to improve Americans’ lives. They generally support higher taxes on corporations and high-income earners, support regulations that protect workers and consumers, and want more public ownership of key industries like housing, healthcare and utilities.”

But they believe in a lot more than that.

As the City Journal reported, the Democratic Socialists of America recently passed a “Workers Deserve More!” policy statement platform that “commits DSA to scrapping the U.S. Senate, ‘abolishing the carceral forces of the capitalist state,’ defunding the Department of War, amnesty for all immigrants, and ‘replac[ing] the president and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress.’”

In other words, an end to America as we now know it.

That goes far beyond their economic proposals. Even so, as the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows, Americans appear to have edged closer to thinking socialism is an acceptable alternative to capitalism — even though the latter has an unmatched record for creating wealth and freedom, unlike socialism.

Which raises a question: Thirty seven years after the collapse of communism and socialism in 1989, have we forgotten how awful socialism was?

I&I/TIPP publishes timely, unique, and informative data each month on topics of public interest. TIPP’s reputation for polling excellence comes from being the most accurate pollster for the past six presidential elections.

Terry Jones is an editor of Issues & Insights. His four decades of journalism experience include serving as national issues editor, economics editor, and editorial page editor for Investor’s Business Daily.