BLOOMBERG (NEW YORK) -- Americans’ positive image of capitalism has eroded over the past decade, as a new Gallup poll finds widening polarization over the US economic system.
Just 54% of US adults view capitalism positively, down from 60% in 2021 and the lowest since Gallup began asking the question in 2010. And while overall support for socialism remains mostly stable at 39%, the partisan divide has grown — especially among Democrats.
Two-thirds of Democrats now view socialism favorably — up from half in 2010.
Gallup analyst Jeff Jones said Donald Trump’s first election in 2016 was an inflection point. “I think it’s Trump, but I also credit Bernie Sanders and maybe populism more generally,” he said. “Certainly in the Democratic Party, some of the socialist ideas are becoming almost mainstream.”
Generational change is a key driver. Those who came of age after the Cold War never absorbed the same negative messaging about socialism as older Americans, Jones said. Among Republicans, younger voters remain skeptical but “they’re not nearly as negative toward it as older Republicans are.”
Trump campaigned against socialism in 2024, often declaring that “America will never be a socialist country.”
The poll was conducted just as the surprise New York City mayoral campaign of frontrunner Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani rekindled the debate over socialist policies.
“It definitely predates Mamdani, but I think his campaign is kind of reflective of where Democrats are,” Jones said. “Certainly somebody who holds socialist views has a chance to win — and has won — places like New York City.”
Even as views of capitalism slip, Americans still strongly support many of its component parts. Small business earns a 95% positive rating, and 81% support free enterprise. Big business, however, has seen sharp declines — only 37% rate it favorably, down from a majority in 2019.
The poll, of 1,094 US adults conducted Aug. 1-20, has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
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