A new Gallup poll shows that Americans generally remain more positive about capitalism then socialism, but more Americans have been trending more towards socialism since 2021. More Americans will say America is still a capitalist country when cornered with the question, but many of them are starting to consider socialism for America’s future.
First it is important to understand the nuances of socialism as many Americans tend to misunderstand it, especially the older generations that often conflate communism and socialism.
Donald Trump labeled Zohran Mamdani a “communist” after Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo for the New York governor’s seat in the November 4 elections. Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and supports accessible childcare and housing, as well as increasing taxes on the top 1% of New York’s residents.
The Democratic Socialists of America is a socialist organization that says they have over 80,000 members. They consider themselves an activist group instead of a political organization. In addition to Mamdani, other high-profile elected officials connected to DSA include Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
Communism is not socialism although, like Trump, many Americans confuse the two.
According to Penn State University assistant professor, Sandra Trappen, communism is an authoritarian form of government, like, for example North Korea where the dictator controls everything in the country.
Socialism, on the other hand, is an economic model like capitalism is. Unlike capitalism, where private individuals control property, socialism is an economic model where the government controls property. Among both economic models there are degrees of balance between freedom of one individual against the welfare of the community.
America’s capitalism is unrestrained capitalism that prioritizes companies over people. But America’s capitalism economy offers some relief through social benefits to poorer people through access to food and other subsidies. As Trappen explains, America “prioritizes investment in the economy over investment in people.” This is where social Democracy enters the equation.
Social-Democrats like the governments of Denmark or Norway prioritize the social rights of their people over the rights of unrestrained capitalism. Denmark, Norway and the U.S. are both democracies within the economic framework of capitalism only separated by the value placed on the peoples’ social welfare.
The Democratic Socialists of America want to model national economic policies closer to the Scandinavian countries than what America has today. But they are not communist nor are they looking to give away democracy or private control over property.
Although socialism is a “dirty word” for many Americans, it is based on the fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be a social democrat.
Mamdani’s win over Andrew Cuomo earlier this month, along with the previous election wins by Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib has both Republicans AND Democrats scrambling to understand the electoral ramifications for the country.
For the Republicans, as expressed by Trump, their wins are mislabeled as communism taking a foothold in America. But for the Democrats, Mandani, Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib are the public face of the Democratic Party’s internal war for the future of the party between the younger activists trying to wrestle control away from the party’s old-guard who aren’t willing to stand aside for the younger rebels.
Generally, the younger Democrats want capitalism to value more people over companies.
The Gallup poll from last month provides us a better understanding of the rise of socialism among Americans. Gallup has tracked how Americans feel about socialism since 2010. According to their polls, over 60% of Americans felt positive about capitalism in 2010. Only 36% felt positive about socialism that year. But positive feelings about capitalism have gone down while positive feelings about socialism have risen slightly. Today, according to Gallup, 54% of Americans see capitalism as a positive whereas 39% of them feel socialism is positive for Americans. Trend wise, while the positive outlook for capitalism has dropped, socialism has gone up about the same.
As expected, party ideology treats the question differently as Republicans have hovered between 71% and 74% when asked if they felt positive about capitalism. The Democrats, on the other hand, have seen their positive belief in capitalism drop from a 55% high in 2012 to a low of 42% this year. Likewise, the Independents are trending down on capitalism from 61% to 51% this year.
But the interesting metric from the Gallup polls is the question of how respondents feel about “big business.” In 2012 positive feelings about big business among Americans jumped to 58% from 49% two years before. However, except for a small uptick in 2019 to 52%, Americans view big business negatively more each year. Today, only 37% of Americans feel big business is good for America, a significant drop from 2019.
The future of democratic socialism currently lies within the Democratic Party and that is where the ideological battle between the younger generations and the old guard is happening today.
Independents and Republicans are generally sitting out this ideological battle but may soon be forced to choose a side if American’s positive outlook on capitalism continues to erode as it has over the last 15 years.
