A record 43% of Americans now have a positive image of socialism, according to a new Gallup poll, the highest share since the pollster began asking in 2010. But do they know what socialism is? And does it even matter if they’re just rebranding social democracy in Gen Z coding?
The word itself has changed meaning. In 1949, the most common definition Americans gave was government ownership of business. By 2018, it was equality. Then the pandemic gave millions a taste of government help: stimulus checks for most households and free COVID-19 vaccines, ushered in by the great crypto-socialist himself, Donald J. Trump.
Over half a decade later, politicians who embrace the label have gone national. Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is mayor of New York City. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary in August, despite nearly $65 million in outside spending against him.
The White House has noticed and, its own flirtations with a centrally planned economy aside, has vowed to defeat it. In a speech marking the country’s 250th birthday on July 4, Trump attacked the “communist menace” as “the exact opposite of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s death, tyranny and the pursuit of evil.”
Vice President JD Vance has been just as anti-socialist, while cautioning to fellow Republicans that they should not blame young people for its appeal when housing costs keep them from buying homes.
Socialism still has more detractors than fans. It trails capitalism, which 55% of Americans see positively, and free enterprise, at 77%. What’s changed is who likes it. Democrats have been warming to socialism for more than a decade, but the latest gain came almost entirely from independents: 45% now view it positively, up from 37% a year ago. Big business, meanwhile, has slipped below socialism. Its positive rating has fallen from 49% in 2010 to 35%.
The poll measured gut reactions to words. Gallup asked for people’s image of each term “just off the top of your head” and defined none of them, and the word choice mattered. Free enterprise, a close cousin of capitalism, scored 22 points higher than capitalism itself. When Fortune asked a similar question in 2021, 42% viewed socialism positively.
Nothing to own
Vance has made the housing argument himself. In July, he told Joe Rogan that unless young Americans are allowed to own something, “socialism is the inevitable outcome.” He later told Fox News: “If we don’t get this right, don’t blame young people for being sympathetic to socialism. We’ve got to blame ourselves.”
He isn’t the first to make the case. In 2020, billionaire Peter Thiel warned that people with no stake in the capitalist system may turn against it. The housing numbers back him up. First-time buyers made up 21% of home purchases in the National Association of Realtors’ latest annual survey, the lowest share since the group began tracking in 1981. Zillow’s CEO doesn’t expect that to change soon.
Gallup’s age breakdown follows the same line. Americans 18 to 34, prime first-home age, view socialism more positively than capitalism, 57% to 43%, though after Mamdani’s primary win last year, most young people said they hadn’t given up on capitalism. Americans 55 and older, most of whom already own homes, favor capitalism about two to one. By income, the middle is the most conflicted. Households earning $50,000 to $100,000 are split evenly on socialism, and 69% view big business unfavorably, more than any other income group.
Trump is taking a different approach. Last week, the night Gallup released its poll, the White House began airing a taxpayer-funded ad in which Trump says, “Together we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America.” The spot, labeled as paid for by the U.S. government, ran on Fox News in major markets. By Sunday, a third government-funded ad, in which Trump vows to cast out communists and Marxists, was airing during NFL games.
The ads couldn’t have shaped the results. Gallup’s interviews, with 1,200 adults by phone from Aug. 3 to 24, ended about a month before the first one aired. Respondents tied socialism to both economic security and government overreach, and capitalism to both innovation and inequality. Support for competition and market choice remains broad, even among the groups warmest to socialism.