Sixty-Six Percent - What Americans Think Socialism Means

A recent Gallup poll, conducted in August 2025, found that 66 percent of Democrats view socialism favorably — while only 42 percent of those same Democrats viewed capitalism favorably. At protests across American cities, demonstrators have carried Soviet flags, the hammer and sickle on red cloth, as symbols of resistance. Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Zohran Mamdani — the new Mayor of New York City — have built careers on the promise of democratic socialism, drawing crowds of young Americans who see that word not as a warning but as a hope.