# Young People More Likely To Favor Socialism Than Capitalism: Pew 12/29/11 **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 16, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691 "2012-01-16T14:09:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Deal_Democrat)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/1 "2012-01-16T14:09:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Young people – the collegiate and post-college crowd, who have served as the most visible face of the Occupy Wall Street movement – might be getting more comfortable with socialism. That’s the surprising result from a Pew Research Center poll that aims to measure American sentiments toward different political labels… > > Socialism has more fans than opponents among the 18-29 crowd. Forty-nine percent of people in that age bracket say they have a positive view of socialism; only 43 percent say they have a negative view. > > And while those numbers aren’t very far apart, it’s noteworthy that they were reversed just 20 months ago, when Pew conducted a similar poll. In that survey, published May 2010, 43 percent of people age 18-29 said they had a positive view of socialism, and 49 percent said their opinion was negative. > > It’s not clear why young people have evidently begun to change their thinking on socialism. In the past several years, the poor economy has had any number of effects on young adults – keeping them at home with their parents, making it difficult for them to get jobs, and likely depressing their earning potential for years to come – that might have dampened enthusiasm for the free market among this crowd. > **[Young People More Likely To Favor Socialism Than Capitalism: Pew](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/young-people-socialism_n_1175218)** > > Young People More Likely To Favor Socialism Than Capitalism: Pew Is this a hopeful sign, or evidence of encroaching decadence? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/2 "2012-01-16T14:18:44Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > It’s not clear why young people have evidently begun to change their thinking on socialism. In the past several years, the poor economy has had any number of effects on young adults – keeping them at home with their parents, making it difficult for them to get jobs, and likely depressing their earning potential for years to come – that might have dampened enthusiasm for the free market among this crowd. > [Young People More Likely To Favor Socialism Than Capitalism: Pew | HuffPost Impact](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1175218.html) Because young people have gotten used to being taken care of their entire lives? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/3 "2012-01-16T14:30:11Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > It’s not clear why young people have evidently begun to change their thinking on socialism. They’ve been told that requiring people to buy health insurance and taxing the wealthy at 39% of their income are socialism. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/4 "2012-01-16T14:33:06Z")
When the right wing persists in calling politicians like Obama “socialist” over and over again, people start to think “Well if Obama’s a socialist, I guess socialism isn’t as bad as I was led to believe.” ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/5 "2012-01-16T14:33:12Z")
My WAG: they’ve been listening to the pundits and blowhards who call every idea or person slightly left of center “Socialist”. They think, “Well, a lot of those ideas are pretty good - maybe Socialism isn’t so bad.” ETA: Great minds and all that. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/6 "2012-01-16T14:45:20Z")
Eh, it’s within the margin of error. 46% have a positive view of capitalism and 49% have a positive view of socialism, with a margin of error of 3%. And why look at this as a signal of the Occupy crowd, when the poll explicitly asks supporters of that movement the same question? They come in at 39% positive view of socialism. Chalk this up to another poorly written article at Huffington. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/7 "2012-01-16T15:28:59Z")
People in the 18-29 age bracket need to realize that nobody cares what they think. They’re young, with no experience of the real world. Maybe by the time they hit 35 they’ll have some sense. ---
**Author:** ![Danja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@Danja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danja)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/8 "2012-01-16T15:39:40Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > People in the 18-29 age bracket need to realize that nobody cares what they think. They’re young, with no experience of the real world. Maybe by the time they hit 35 they’ll have some sense. Evidently someone cares what they think, else they would not have been polled… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/9 "2012-01-16T15:42:26Z")
And [here’s](http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=793950) a Gallup poll showing “Conservatives Remain the Largest Ideological Group in U.S.” Thing is, these polls do not provide the respondent with any definition of “conservatism” or “socialism,” so they’re really just polling for the popularity of the **words.** ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/10 "2012-01-16T15:43:46Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > People in the 18-29 age bracket need to realize that nobody cares what they think. Candidates do. Young adults get to **vote.** ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/11 "2012-01-16T15:47:14Z")
Yeah, those numbers don’t really scream “trend” to me, yet. I would not be surprised to find them again mirror-imaged on next year’s poll. Specially as others have mentioned, in the USA where many people wouldn’t know real socialism if it waved red flags and danced on the roof of the schoolbus while organizing the children into a homework cooperative. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > And why look at this as a signal of the Occupy crowd, when the poll explicitly asks supporters of that movement the same question? They come in at 39% positive view of socialism. Not only that, but among OWS supporters the difference between positive vs. negative perception of capitalism is a virtual dead heat 45/47, while 52% have a negative opinion of socialism. Which would suggest that at least some of them are not being as uncritical and knee-jerk as often portrayed. As opposed to the lede of the story where the writer seems to have concluded a priori that OWS popularizes socialism. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/12 "2012-01-16T15:51:27Z")
It is important to note here that [people do **not** grow more conservatives as they age.](http://ourgeneration.org/2008/03/10/washington-post-older-people-arent-rigid-in-beliefs/) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/13 "2012-01-16T15:52:53Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Yeah, those numbers don’t really scream “trend” to me, yet. I would not be surprised to find them again mirror-imaged on next year’s poll. > > Specially as others have mentioned, in the USA where many people wouldn’t know real socialism if it waved red flags and danced on the roof of the schoolbus while organizing the children into a homework cooperative. > > Not only that, but among OWS supporters the difference between positive vs. negative perception of capitalism is a virtual dead heat 45/47, while 52% have a negative opinion of socialism. Which would suggest that at least some of them are not being as uncritical and knee-jerk as often portrayed. As opposed to the lede of the story where the writer seems to have concluded a priori that OWS popularizes socialism. Well, no, it doesn’t; but the OWSers 39% approval of socialism-whatever-that-means is pretty **high** in an American context. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/14 "2012-01-16T16:04:10Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > That’s the surprising result from a Pew Research Center poll that aims to measure American sentiments toward different political labels… Really? Why is this surprising? Y’all raised us (okay, I’m just a bit older than this demographic, but the problem started with my age group and just got worse with this one) to share our toys, to never play competitive games, but cooperative ones instead. You removed honest grade related retention in schools in favor of social promotion. You polled us every time a new classroom rule was under consideration, and you gave us choices between the pizza and the chicken nuggets every night for dinner, instead of making us eat what was served to the grown-ups. You’ve always worked hard to “promote self-esteem”, praising us for breathing right, instead of reserving praise for hard work and real accomplishment. You removed every natural consequence of our misbehavior, helicopter parenting us so that we never learned how to solve our own problems, but grew to trust some authority figure to solve them for us. And now you’re surprised we grew up feeling like we’re part of a team that needs to share our resources and get problems solved by governmental agencies, and we’re not rugged individualists? Really? That’s a surprise? > [@](#): > > Is this a hopeful sign, or evidence of encroaching decadence? What’s decadent about socialism? > [@Skammer](#): > > When the right wing persists in calling politicians like Obama “socialist” over and over again, people start to think “Well if Obama’s a socialist, I guess socialism isn’t as bad as I was led to believe.” True, very true. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/15 "2012-01-16T16:10:07Z")
> [@Danja](#): > > Evidently someone cares what they think, else they would not have been polled… Yeah, marketers, advertisers, journalists and other people who sell stuff care what they think. If people actually cared what young people thought, Jay-Z would be President and Miley Cirus would be Secretary of Partying in the USA (Secretary of State is SOO last century). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/16 "2012-01-16T16:20:02Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > Is this a hopeful sign, or evidence of encroaching decadence? What makes you think there’s a difference? If “decadence” means anything, then left-wing political progress can be a reaction against it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/17 "2012-01-16T17:10:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And [here’s](http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=793950) a Gallup poll showing “Conservatives Remain the Largest Ideological Group in U.S.” Thing is, these polls do not provide the respondent with any definition of “conservatism” or “socialism,” so they’re really just polling for the popularity of the **words.** I agree. It’s like the polls of who are the most admired people in the world. It’s really just a poll of who has the most name recognition. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/18 "2012-01-16T17:15:29Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > If people actually cared what young people thought, Jay-Z would be President and Miley Cirus would be Secretary of Partying in the USA (Secretary of State is SOO last century). It’s [been](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_in_the_Streets) [done.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prez_(DC_Comics)) Of course, IRL, the young always have to **share** their votes with the old . . . ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/19 "2012-01-16T17:25:58Z")
If “socialism” spreads to the majority, them most Americans will be un-American. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691/20 "2012-01-16T17:33:06Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > If “socialism” spreads to the majority, them most Americans will be un-American. 😉 According to the poll, about 1/3 already are un-American. 🙂 Which just goes to show how stupid the poll is since it doesn’t define what “socialism” is. What that poll shows is that lots of people think the government should be doing more regulation, which is not the same as socialism except for unusual definitions of that term. Not that Republican politicians haven’t contributed to a complete lack of understanding of what it means. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-people-more-likely-to-favor-socialism-than-capitalism-pew-12-29-11/609691.md?page=2)