Sept. 23 (UPI) — More than 40% of Americans have a positive image of socialism, a new Gallup poll released Wednesday said. The concept now ranks ahead of big business in opinions of the five economic concepts measured by Gallup.
This marks the first time a positive view of socialism has exceeded 39% in Gallup’s trend since 2010. Gallup has measured trends about public views of the economic concepts periodically since 2010.
In general, U.S. residents have become less positive about most of the concepts, Gallup said. Views of small business have remained nearly unchanged since 2010 at 95% positive. However, positive views of capitalism have fallen by six percentage points to 55%, views of free enterprise have fallen by nine percentage points to 77% and views of big business have fallen by 14 percentage points to 35%.
“Most of the increase in socialism’s positive rating through 2025 reflected increasingly positive views among Democrats, rising from 50% in 2010 to 66% last year,” Gallup said. “The latest uptick, however, comes entirely from political independents, whose positive rating jumped from 37% last year to 45% today. Democrats’ rating is essentially unchanged, at 65%, while Republicans’ remains below 15%.”
Gallup noted that there are strong age differences in the ratings of capitalism and socialism. Categories of gender, race/ethnicity and household income also show great differences.
Positive ratings of capitalism and free enterprise are higher among older age groups, and positive ratings of socialism are lower. People ages 18 to 34 view socialism (57%) more positively than capitalism (43%), while those 55 and older view capitalism (65%) more positively than socialism (34%). Those ages 35 to 54 view the two systems about the same.
Men tend to view capitalism more positively than socialism, though this trend is reversed for women. Upper-income Americans are more positive than lower-income Americans toward capitalism and free enterprise.
Gallup said that the trends, however, “don’t indicate wholesale movement away from markets and toward socialism.”
“Small business remains nearly universally popular, and free enterprise continues to receive broadly positive ratings — including among Democrats and younger adults, who are more positive toward socialism than other groups,” Gallup said, noting that its recent research has reinforced “a more nuanced picture” and found “widespread support for free-market principles such as economic competition and market choice, even as Americans express concerns about capitalism’s potential to produce inequality and excessive corporate power.”
Gallup surveyed 1,200 adults between Aug. 3-24 with a 4% margin of error.
Source: U.S. News
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