Radical Left On The Rise: Democrats Embrace Socialism, Handing GOP A Political Gift

CNN reported this week that the popularity of socialism among Democrats has soared from a paltry 7% approval in 2010 to more than 36% in 2025.

“Look at this, net popularity of socialism among Democrats,” CNN pollster Harry Enten proclaimed. “You go back to 2010, it was plus seven points. Look how high it is now, up like a rocket, up to plus 36 points. That’s a jump of nearly 30 points on the net popularity scale among Democrats in just 15 years.”

Re: Mamdani/Hochul, Dems see socialism as five letter word: “great”.

The net popularity of socialism is up 29 pts since 2010 with Dems. Capitalism, however, has a net negative rating with Dems.

This should leave the GOP/Trump salivating as socialism remains unpopular overall. pic.twitter.com/9txWvJQVuJ

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) September 16, 2025

A recent Gallup poll bolstered the notion that Democrats are turning toward socialism, noting, “For the first time, less than half of Democrats (42%) view capitalism positively … Stability in U.S. adults’ opinions of socialism obscures Democrats’ more positive views of it over time, from 50% rating it positively in the initial 2010 reading to roughly two-thirds in three readings since 2019.”

Speaking of the disparate views of Republicans, Democrats, and independents, Gallup pointed out, “Democrats are the only partisan group of the three that views socialism more positively than capitalism — 66% to 42%, respectively. Independents are modestly more pro-capitalism than pro-socialism (51% vs. 38%), while Republicans are overwhelmingly so (74% vs. 14%).”

“This is where the danger is for Democrats, because if socialism plays in Democratic primaries, it does not play in the general electorate,” Enten continued. “Net popularity among all adults, capitalism is on the positive side of the ledger at plus 12 points. Socialism way, way, way underwater at minus 18 points. So, that’s capitalism running away by 30 points over socialism. … something may play in Democratic primaries. It may play in the very Democratic city of New York. But among the general electorate, Republicans are salivating at the idea that they can run against a Democratic socialist being the mayor of New York City.”

At a town hall earlier this month, New York Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Vermont’s socialist-in-chief, Senator Bernie Sanders, displayed their devotion to socialism. Rather than discuss real solutions for New York’s public safety crisis, housing shortages, or spiraling budget deficits, Mamdani and Sanders devoted most of their energy to blaming the usual scapegoats: billionaires, corporations, Republicans, and of course, President Donald Trump. Mamdani railed against Trump’s tax legislation — calling it a “wealth transfer” — as if the city’s poverty and housing crisis suddenly began in 2016. He glossed over New York’s decades of Democrat mismanagement, choosing instead to indict the president for everything from hunger to homelessness.

According to Sanders, the United States is now an oligarchy run by cartoon villains, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Rupert Murdoch. He lamented the “six media conglomerates” that supposedly control everything Americans read and think — somehow omitting the overwhelming liberal slant of most mainstream outlets.

For notable examples of how socialism fails, one need look no farther than countries that implemented socialist or communist policies, such as Venezuela, once one of Latin America’s wealthiest countries, which has suffered hyperinflation (up to 1,000,000% in 2018) and massive shortages of food and medicine; the Soviet Union, where its Marxist-Leninist communism led to famines (e.g., Holodomor in Ukraine) and economic stagnation by the 1980s; Cuba, which has chronic economic stagnation, or North Korea, where 2-3 million people died of starvation in the 1990s.