Surveys On Socialism And Zohran Mamdani

Forbes

6 days ago

In a statement after Zohran Mamdani's victory in the recent NYC Democratic mayoral primary, the Democratic Socialists of America, the nation's largest socialist organization, effused, 'In New York City, socialism has won.' A little premature perhaps, but Mamdani, the charismatic 33-year old who describes himself as a democratic socialist, has clearly joined the progressive pantheon of Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Fortunately, polls provide a good sense of how well his ideas resonate with Democrats and with other Americans as well.
Since the Occupy Wall Street protest against capitalism began in 2011, pollsters have occasionally asked Americans about their views of socialism and capitalism, but the subject has much deeper roots in survey history. Some of the earliest questions in the Roper/Fortune and Gallup polls from the 1930s explored the fundaments of the idea. When people were asked in an open-ended Gallup question from 1949, 34% volunteered that socialism meant government ownership or control of utilities and other things, but 36% couldn't give a definition. In a 2010 CBS News/New York Times poll, 20% said it meant government control, while a quarter said they didn't know. Gallup's estimable Frank Newport wrote that for many people, and especially the young, the definition of socialism has broadened. 'While many still view socialism as government control of the economy, as modified communism and as embodying restrictions on freedoms in several ways, an increased percentage see it as representing equality and government provision of benefits.'
Gallup began asking people in 2010 whether they had a positive or negative impression of socialism, and the findings have been remarkably stable in six questions asked since then, with slightly less than 40% giving a positive response. Around 60% have been positive about capitalism.
Shortly before Mamdani's victory, Cato released the Cato Institute's 2025 Fiscal Policy National Survey providing fresh data. In three separate questions in the March poll, Cato asked about favorable or unfavorable views of capitalism, socialism, and communism. Fifty-nine percent had a favorable view of capitalism (41% unfavorable). Socialism was less popular at 43% favorable and 57% unfavorable. Finally, 14% had a favorable view of communism.
In this poll, like earlier ones from other organizations, young people and Democrats had more favorable views of socialism and less favorable views of capitalism. There was a straight age progression in responses on the socialism question: 62% of 18-29 year olds had a favorable view, compared to 32% of those ages 65 and older. There was a huge partisan gap: 67% of Democrats had a favorable view compared to 17% of Republicans. Men were less sympathetic to socialism than women.
As for capitalism, half of the youngest age group had a positive view but 73% of the oldest age group did. Half of Democrats were positive compared to 75% of Republicans.
Are Mamdani's views in step with those of most Americans? When NBC's Kristen Welker asked Mamdani about billionaires in a recent interview, he said 'I don't think we should have billionaires.' In the Cato poll, however, only 29% of respondents said it 'immoral for society to allow people to become billionaires.'
Once, people were more sympathetic to these ideas. In 1935, when the Roper/Fortune poll asked 'Do you believe that the government should allow a man who has investments worth over a million dollars to keep them, subject only to present taxes, 45% said yes, 46% no. In another question in the poll, a majority, 52%, said there should be no limit on what someone could inherit. The next highest response, given by 16%, said it should the limit should be between $100,000 to a million dollars, while 14% put the amount at $100,000 or less. The vast majority of Americans don't want to eliminate billionaires, but they are quite willing to tax them heavily. The socialist candidate has other ideas such as government-run grocery stores and rent control that are unlikely to have strong national support.
It hardly needs to be said that New York City is not America, and the city has serious problems that don't significantly affect other parts of the county. A democratic socialist may be popular there, but it is unlikely that his brand will be met with the same positive reception in most other parts of the nation. Even Democrats are rightly skittish about some of his views.