Popularity of Socialism Spiking in US; 43 Percent Now Saying It Would Be Good for the Country

I made a thread about a year ago (last July 2nd) about Socialism in America: Socialism Takes Over America... Could it Happen?

We have seen individuals like Elizabeth Warren propose the idea of "forgiving student debt", and other popular "democratic" socialists like Bernie Sanders and AOC gaining in popularity. Socialist policies and ideals seem to be creeping their way into the everyday discussion more and more. Many people say "Socialism could never happen in America". I'm amazed at how many people seem to be openly supportive of socialism, stating that other examples in history "weren't TRUE socialism" (yeah, that really grinds my gears when I hear that).

Recent polls are also showing a rise in support for socialism among Americans.

Link to Newsweek article: Popularity of Socialism Spiking in U.S., With 43 Percent Now Saying It Would Be Good for the Country

From the article:

The Gallup survey of a 1,024 adults found that 43 percent of Americans believed that some sort of socialism would be good for the country compared, while 51 percent who said it would by bad.

The results revealed an 18 percent rise in the number of people warming to socialism compared with a 1942 Roper/Fortune poll, described by Gallup as "one of the oldest trend questions measuring attitudes on socialism in the U.S."

Now that article uses the language of "some sort" of socialism. Ok, fair enough. Elizabeth Warren's idea of "forgiving student loan debt" may be an example of this... but I would argue this is a slippery slope. And what about graduates or students who were diligent and were able to pay off their student loan debt? Their peers get rewarded while they busted their butt to get out of debt? I know the debt and college situation is different for everyone... I'm not saying "if you have student loan debt you did something wrong", but for the folks who were able to get out of debt, proposals like Warren's reveal how a single "socialist" policy can cause a ripple effect, dividing social/economic groups and creating more social unrest.

Another article from the Hill from yesterday: Poll: Socialism gaining in popularity

From this article:

The Harris poll found 55 percent of women between 18 and 54 would rather live in a socialist country than a capitalist one. However, a majority of men surveyed would prefer to live in a capitalist country, according to the poll.

These poll results are troubling...

So I want to revisit this topic I brought up last July.

Do things seem to be changing, in your opinion? To me they do. To me, "socialism" is gaining steam and a lot of uneducated/ignorant individuals keep blaming capitalism for economic woes. It's disheartening and frustrating, to me at least.

a reply to: FamCore

that's scary to hear... socialism never ends well. When will people learn???

a reply to: FamCore

Obviously I don't really have a horse in this race and my intentions are to keep out of this thread and hopefully be educated about US attitudes to socialist principles.

But there's a couple of questions I'd like to get out of the way before I sit back and enjoy the ride.

.....but for the folks who were able to get out of debt, proposals like Warren's reveal how a single "socialist" policy can cause a ripple effect, dividing social/economic groups and creating more social unrest.

Surely exactly the same could be said about those whose parents can afford to pay off their student debt - let's face it, very, very few students can afford to pay it off themselves quickly.

Wouldn't it be better to clear all student debt regardless of wealth or social standing upon achieving a previously determined grade?

....a lot of uneducated/ignorant individuals keep blaming capitalism for economic woes.

What is causing 'economic woes' then?

Genuine questions from a genuinely interested person.

From what I have inferred from what I am hearing is that some social programs are desired, not that your country become totally socialist. It also appears that your country's wealth, however gained, just does not trickle down to 'the people' - EVER - government-citizen disconnect. Does this not warrant social programs?

We know that Trump is attacking welfare, promoting work requirements and other restrictions across the board. You wrote in a recent article for The New York Times, “The Trump administration’s new initiative amounts to a marketing campaign to brand key safety net policies as ‘welfare,’ undermining their legitimacy.” So many people react negatively when asked about welfare, that’s why it is politically a successful strategy for conservatives to try to stigmatize more policies, painting them with that term “welfare.” The Trump administration is continuing this; the policies [that] they want to alter and introduce more work requirements in include food stamps, Medicaid, and rental subsidies for low-income people. But if people stop to think about the fact that so many of them have relied on these policies that are under attack, or their friends and families and community members have, I think that strategy actually could be problematic.

prospect.org...

a reply to: FamCore

Where did they take the poll, new York or California? Did they specifically ask a higher percentage of crazy liberals and progressives?

But my main point, it's a poll, it doesn't mean squat. I don't care if it's for crazy liberals, crazy republicans, criminals like Clinton or somebody trying to change the crappy politics in the US like trump. All poles are skewed by the bias of the poll takers and their expectations.

Cheers - Dave

47% pay no income tax.
43% are in favor of socialism.

Where's the missing 4%

Mostly just healthcare and college, but let's blow it out of proportion.

a reply to: FamCore

Anything to address wealth inequality in this country is a good thing:



How strong can the country be if there are not enough good paying jobs and everyone is in so much in debt??????????

Yet corporate socialism seems to have tons of support...

originally posted by: FamCore
Do things seem to be changing, in your opinion? To me they do. To me, "socialism" is gaining steam and a lot of uneducated/ignorant individuals keep blaming capitalism for economic woes. It's disheartening and frustrating, to me at least.

Why do you think capitalism is perfect? Laissez faire capitalism is great if you are billionaire or upper middle class. For everyone else it sucks monkey balls:



Marx makes some very good points.

In other news....

43% of the people surveyed want the other 57% of people surveyed's stuff.....

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.” ― Margaret Thatcher

Alternate headline: 43% of people don't know what socialism is.

a reply to: dfnj2015

Quoting Karl Marx and complaining about inequality...

Irony level = epic.

Yes Virgnia... what we need to do to solve inequality is to institute a tyrannical government.

Which has always been the end result of retarded Karl's little theory.

/facepalm.

originally posted by: face23785
Alternate headline: 43% of people don't know what socialism is.

The problem is academics and even the MSM don't care... they will help promote this type of thinking regardless of whether their audience understands what socialism truly is, or not

For able bodied, the United States already has free college and healthcare. It's called the Armed Forces / Reserves.

The Reserves are one weekend a month, two weeks in the summer. Free college, paycheck, free schooling for a military skill and dirt cheap healthcare. There are other perks; free meals when on duty, discounts at stores, restaurants, free event tickets.

Why Democrats never bring this up I do not know. It's morally bankrupt to completely eliminate it from the conversation of free school and free healthcare since tax payers are already footing the bill for it. I would bash Warren, Bernie and Kamala over the head with it.

We have seen individuals like Elizabeth Warren propose the idea of "forgiving student debt"

I don't understand how "forgiving student debt" is considered a socialist policy and not simply political bribery? Don't misunderstand me; increasing government funding in higher education even to the point of making higher education free at the point service might be a good socialist policy we should adopt in our country; but these government giveaways "If you vote for me" dressed up as socialist policy are bandaids at at best and again political bribery at worst.

So to that end I respectifuly question what the OP perceives as an increased support of socialism; and wonder if what they are really seeing is more and more people looking for a hand out. Believe me I am in full support of the government giving me "forgiveness" from my home morgue... that doesn't make me a supporter of socialism.

originally posted by: face23785
Alternate headline: 43% of people don't know what socialism is.

Count me among that number because every time this topic comes up I go over to Wikipedia to see what Socialism is and get 15 different answers. There's 15 degrees of socialism. Don't we already have some forms of socialism like Medicaid and rent assistance. Oh, and I just heard there a school districts in my area using tax payer dollars to fund free breakfast and lunch programs because with school out for the summer, the kids got no food.

So, yea.....I don't even know what socialism is anymore.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: FamCore

Anything to address wealth inequality in this country is a good thing:

How strong can the country be if there are not enough good paying jobs and everyone is in so much in debt??????????

Strongest country on the planet.

a reply to: FamCore

Do things seem to be changing, in your opinion? To me they do. To me, "socialism" is gaining steam and a lot of uneducated/ignorant individuals keep blaming capitalism for economic woes. It's disheartening and frustrating, to me at least.

To me, it's not about if things are changing, but rather how things have already changed, and how it's brought us to this point.

When we threw away the Social Contract, which basically requires government to serve the best interests of the people fairly and equitably, we opened the door for socialism.

When we threw away free market capitalism for crony capitalism, we opened the door for socialism.

When we threw away natural rights for civil rights, we opened the door for socialism.

When we threw away free will for government force, we opened the door for socialism.

In fact, we pretty much gave it an engraved invitation on a silver platter.

We started picking winners and losers. We started deciding that some deserve more than others.

And political critters have exploited the needs of the people for their own benefit all along the way.

Unless and until we empower and enable the people to be able to make a living for themselves and their families the government will only get bigger and stronger. People who can take care of themselves are independent, resourceful and self-sufficient and do not want or need government interference. It's only people who cannot do for themselves, and don't think they will ever be able to do for themselves, who want government to take care of them.

If/when we restore the fundamental principles of the Social Contract, we can make other reforms accordingly.

a reply to: FamCore

It's communism.

Plain and simple.

What the morons don't get is that we have a corrupt bloated government now.

Making it bigger, "socialist", will just give us a corrupt bloated communist government.