Overall support for socialism in the United States has dropped this year, but the Millennial generation, determined as those aged 23 to 38, is the most supportive of the ideology, according to a new poll.
The survey was conducted by YouGov and included 2,100 respondents older than 16.
The study was released on Monday by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. It shows that support for communism among Millenials has increased by 8 percent compared to the survey of 2018. 36 percent of Millenials view communism positively, and 35 percent view Marxism positively, up 6 percent up compared to 2018.
The survey shows that 58 percent of Americans have positive views about capitalism, which is 3 percent lower than in 2018. At the same time, Generation Z, which is defined as those of ages 16 to 22, had 49 percent of respondents viewing capitalism as favorable, similarly, 50 percent of the surveyed Millenials view capitalism favorably.
Overall, according to the poll, socialism became less favorable dropping from a 42 percent of respondents viewing it positively in 2018 to a 36 percent this year.
Generation Z’s view of socialism dropped from 48 percent to 40 percent, however, Millenials only slightly dropped from 50 percent to 49 percent.
The study shows that the Silent Generation of Americans (those older than 74 years) are vastly different in their understanding of what guarantees freedom.
“57 percent of Millennials (compared to 94 percent of the Silent Generation), believe the Declaration of Independence better guarantees freedom and inequality over the Communist Manifesto,” the study reads.
Another key takeaway stated that:
“50 percent of Millennials say they are ‘somewhat likely’ and 20 percent of Millennials say they are ‘extremely likely’ to vote for a socialist candidate, doubling from 10 percent in 2018, Americans overall are more hesitant about voting for a ‘democratic socialist’ than they were last year (53 percent ‘never’ or ‘hesitant’ in 2019 versus 47 percent in 2018).”
“The historical amnesia about the dangers of communism and socialism is on full display in this year’s report,” said Marion Smith, Executive Director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. “When we don’t educate our youngest generations about the historical truth of 100 million victims murdered at the hands of communist regimes over the past century, we shouldn’t be surprised at their willingness to embrace Marxist ideas. We need to redouble our efforts to educate America’s youth about the history of communist regimes and the dangers of socialism today.”
