Bill Clinton alerted the Democratic Party of the dangers of edging closer to socialism. With politicians such as Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Party finds itself trying to establish socialist dogma and policies nearing the extreme left. Former President Clinton is trying to stop this trend from damaging the party in the run-up to the mid-term elections in November.
During a conference at Georgetown University, the former president warned Democrats that both socialism and police defunding could hurt their support and results in the midterms:
I mean, we lost the last two weeks of the 2020 election on defund the police and socialism, and that was our fault. We shouldn't let that happen.
Opinions of socialism sour
According to the latest survey conducted by Pew Research Center, only 36% of citizens see socialism as positive, including 6% who see it as very favorable. In contrast, 42% approved of socialism in 2019, a drop of six percentage points.
According to the Pew Research Center survey, the demographic prototype of a person who views socialism positively is a black woman aged 18-29 with a graduate degree and low income.
Far more Democrats than Republicans believe that socialism is effective, despite the fact that number is also down from the 2019 survey. Three years ago, 65% of those who identified as Democrats were in support. That figure dropped down to 57% in this year.
Almost all Republicans disapprove of socialism. Only 14% of GOP supporters find the socialist trend positive.
Socialism's popularity is declining despite the fact that, according to the survey, many Americans continue to believe it is the political system most likely to meet basic needs. However, this perception differs greatly between parties: 56% of Democrats agree, compared to just 19% of Republicans.
In contrast, 62% of Republicans think that socialism restricts individual liberties compared to 19% of Democrats.
The majority continues to support capitalism
Not only has the perception of socialism worsened, so has that of capitalism. The United States, an example of the capitalist system, continues to add citizens who nevertheless abandon the favorable perception of it.
The archetypal American capitalist, according to the Pew Research Center survey, is a white male over 65 with advanced degrees and a high income.
Despite support of capitalism suffering a decline of eight points from the 2019 survey, there is still an absolute majority that supports capitalism. Fifty-seven percent view the capitalist system very or somewhat positively. In addition, 36% think that it ensures equal opportunities for everyone (compared to 23% of such support for socialism).
Positive assessments of capitalism declined just slightly within the Republican Party: from 78% in 2019 to 74% this year. Democrats reported as being the most critical of capitalism; three years ago, 55% saw capitalism as the best system and now only 46% do so.
