More Democrats believe socialism is better than capitalism, a pre-election poll from the Economist/YouGov found.
The survey asked respondents to identify what they believe is a better economic system, capitalism or socialism. Across the board, a slight majority, 51 percent, said capitalism is a better economic system, compared to 20 percent who said socialism.
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Opinions vary drastically on party lines, as 79 percent of Republicans say capitalism is better, compared to five percent who said socialism. A plurality of independents, 44 percent, preferred capitalism over the 21 percent who said socialism. However, thirty-eight percent of Democrats said they prefer socialism, compared to 25 percent who said capitalism. Another 38 percent said they are “not sure.”
Unsurprisingly, among those who identify as “liberal,” a plurality, 45 percent, chose socialism as the preferred economic system, while only 24 percent said capitalism.
The survey, taken October 23-26 among 1,440 respondents, comes as Democrats continue to deal with an internal war between “moderate” Democrats and those who openly identify as socialist, including members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), some of whom are on the ballot.
One of the top ticket races in Florida, for example, features DSA member Angie Nixon, who has bizarrely tried to distance herself from the socialist label, despite being an active member of the group.
Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate Angie Nixon, left, arrives for a campaign event at the Little Haiti Cultural Center, Friday, October 2, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
“You know, when people’s voice start getting squeaky and really high pitched, usually they’re lying. And Ashley Moody knows that I’m not a socialist,” Nixon said, claiming to only join DSA because she aligns with them on “fighting for adequate public housing, as well as fighting for quality health care, as well as making sure that we are getting our veterans off the street, taking big money out of politics.”
Elsewhere, Democrat candidates are proudly displaying the socialist banner. Colorado’s Democrat congressional candidate Melat Kiros is a prime example, claiming there is actually nothing more American than socialism.
“I don’t think there’s anything more American than subscribing to an economic philosophy that, as the evidence shows, is the only one that’s actually capable of delivering things like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” Kiros said during an interview on PBS’s Firing Line with Margaret Hoover. “I really can’t.”
“Socialism has proven to deliver on the values of the Declaration of Independence more than capitalism has?” Hoover asked, to which Kiros emphatically replied, “Yes.”
“You know, when we talk about capitalism, you know, one of the things that folks talk about with capitalism as a theory is that it’s responsible for you know delivering people out of poverty here in the U.S.,” she said, claiming that “isn’t the entire story.”
Kiros, who believes there should be a Trans Bill of Rights, is also running on the idea that the murder of unborn children equals “economic freedom.”
However, there has been backlash to the socialist ideals and leftist extremism in other areas of the U.S., including in Michigan, which recently saw Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens endorsing Republican Mike Rogers over Muslim socialist Abdul El-Sayed in the open Senate race. Other Michigan Democrats have followed suit, and Detroit City Council member Mary Waters, who originally endorsed Stevens in the primary, said there is a “disconnect” in the Democratic Party as they embrace socialist ideals.
“There’s a disconnect,” Waters said to MS NOW. “Democrats really don’t even understand black people. They are allowing the socialists, the Democratic socialists, to run this party — to run it and to ruin it.”
