Majority of Democrats Have Favorable View of Socialism
A majority of Democrats have a favorable view of socialism, a weekly survey from The Economist/YouGov reveals.
The survey, taken after the election of Muslim socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York, asked respondents across the country: “Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of socialism?”
Overall, a majority of 44 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion, compared to 33 percent who said they had a favorable opinion. Another 23 percent said they weren’t sure.
Opinions varied greatly between parties. For example, seven in ten Republicans have an unfavorable view of socialism, compared to just 13 percent who have a favorable view. A majority of independents, 44 percent, also have an unfavorable view of socialism, compared to 27 percent who have a favorable view.
But among Democrats, a solid majority of 62 percent said they had a favorable view of socialism. Of these, 16 percent said they had a “very” favorable opinion, and 47 percent had a “somewhat” favorable opinion. Only 16 percent of Democrats say they have an unfavorable view of socialism, and 22 percent remain unsure.
Notably, 61% of voters who supported Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential election4 also favor socialism. Only 13% of people who supported President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election said they viewed socialism favorably, and 75% said the opposite.
The survey was carried out from November 7 to 10, 2025 with 1,663 respondents. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent and tracks Democrats’ leaning toward their party’s radical left contingent, as seen in their actions triggering the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
“We say all the time this is not your father’s party. It’s not. These guys are all Marxists,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said during the shutdown.
“You hear how vapid their ideology is, how empty they are, how empty they are. But they are the leaders of the party,” he continued. “They are dragging the rest of the old guard, the old leaders of the party, by the nose, and they are submitting to their wishes.”
To this point, New Yorkers elected an openly socialist mayor earlier this month – someone who even floated the idea of creating city-run grocery stores.
After Mamdani’s victory, President Donald Trump laid out the situation as clearly as possible: “After last night’s results, the decision facing all Americans could not be clearer. We have a choice between communism and common sense.”
“And you know, take a look, look back 1000 years, [communism] It didn’t work,” Trump continued. “If it worked, we’d use it, I guess. But it didn’t work. Our adversaries are offering us an economic nightmare. We are achieving an economic miracle.
