More than four in ten Americans now hold a positive view of socialism, according to a Gallup survey released this month. The 43 percent figure marks the first time positive sentiment toward socialism has exceeded 39 percent in Gallup’s trend line since 2010, the pollster reported — and it lands just 12 points below the 55 percent who view capitalism favorably.
The survey, conducted August 3–24, 2026 among 1,200 U.S. adults, carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. It asked respondents to rate their image of several economic institutions and systems: small business, free enterprise, capitalism, socialism, and big business.
Small business topped the list with a 95 percent positive rating, followed by free enterprise at 77 percent and capitalism at 55 percent.
Gallup noted the milestone was without precedent in more than a decade and a half of tracking the question.
Democrats’ Drift Leftward
The shift among Democrats has been especially pronounced. In 2018, a little over half — 57 percent — of Democrats viewed socialism positively. That number now stands at 65 percent. Over the same span, their view of capitalism has deteriorated, slipping from 42 percent in 2025 to 35 percent in 2026.
The crossover point came years ago: Gallup’s trend shows socialism overtook capitalism among Democrats by 2016. Socialism is now tied with free enterprise at 65 percent among that group, following a notable decline in Democratic positive ratings of free enterprise since 2021.
Independents have moved in a similar direction, if less dramatically. In the last year alone, their positive view of socialism rose from 37 percent to 45 percent — an eight-point jump. Over the same period, their opinion of big business dropped to a record-low 32 percent after several years of steady decline. That means socialism now outranks big business in independents’ esteem, though capitalism, free enterprise, and small business all continue to draw higher marks.
Republicans remain the outlier. Just 14 percent report a positive view of socialism.
A Generational Divide
The survey surfaced sharp differences by age. Adults aged 18 to 34 view socialism more favorably than capitalism, 57 percent to 43 percent. Among those 55 and older, the relationship reverses and widens: 65 percent hold a positive view of capitalism, compared with 34 percent for socialism. Respondents aged 35 to 54 rate the two systems roughly the same.
More broadly, positive ratings of capitalism and free enterprise were higher among older age groups, while positive views of socialism were lower — a pattern Gallup described as consistent across the data.
The findings arrive alongside other signs of shifting Democratic opinion. A summer survey from the Economist/YouGov found that a majority of Democrats said they would vote for a candidate who described themselves as a democratic socialist. And socialist candidates have notched concrete wins at the ballot box — most prominently the election of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist.
The Gallup results add to a growing body of polling that suggests the word “socialism” — long a political cudgel in American elections — is shedding some of its toxicity, at least for a significant slice of the electorate. Whether that translates into durable support for candidates and policies that carry the label is a separate question, but the direction of the trend has been consistent across multiple surveys this year.
Gallup’s full results and methodology are available through the pollster.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/09/24/poll-more-than-40-percent-americans-have-positive-view-socialism/