For the first time in Gallup's measurement over the past decade, Democrats have a more positive image of socialism than they do of capitalism. Attitudes toward socialism among Democrats have not changed materially since 2010, with 57% today having a positive view. The major change among Democrats has been a less upbeat attitude toward capitalism, dropping to 47% positive this year -- lower than in any of the three previous measures.On the other hand, Republicans favor capitalism (71%) over socialism (16%) by a large margin. Since capitalism is responsible for our current ebullient economy, having perhaps half the electorate favoring a competing system, which has proven disastrous wherever tried, cannot be good.
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I’d like to advance an hypothesis which I have neither the ability nor energy to test. It is this: Democrats who favor socialism over capitalism feel unsuccessful in the current system and think, perhaps correctly, they’ve nothing to lose in trying another. Even if they’re no more successful under socialism, at least those of us presently successful will be less so, which could make their misery less painful to bear.
