According to a recent Gallup poll, in 2010, socialism had a net approval rating of +7 among Democrats, which is bad enough.
Fifteen years later, the margin has jumped to +37 — an increase in net approval of more than 500%.
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
As I wrote yesterday when discussing the bizarre Hochul/Mamdani relationship–she endorsed him, but not the reverse–I pointed to the fact that no Democrat with national ambitions can afford to offend the communists, even if it endangers their general election prospects nationwide. And Hochul wants to be president.
Before you drop the inevitable “Democrats just think socialism means more social programs” argument, you would have to explain to me why, if that were so, Democrats didn’t say the same thing in 2010.
After all, Democrats were just as excited about expanding government benefits then as now. In other words, that dog don’t hunt. In fact, it is so incompetent at hunting that it should avoid Kristi Noem.
Your median Democrat is no longer center-left. There are plenty of center-left Democrats left, providing their margin of victory in elections–but the weight of opinion in the Democratic Party is friendly to socialism, and in fact to communism. For many of them, socialism is just the term they use to describe actual communism, just as the Soviet Union was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Sure, there are some “socialists” who have genuine disagreements with the state ownership of the means of production, but then again, 50% of New York City’s voters–not Democrats, but all voters–are going to vote for a man who explicitly calls for the elimination of private property.
That’s communism, regardless of what Politifact says.
“Moderate” Democrats–and there ARE, as I keep insisting, moderate Democrats–are fooling themselves about what their party has become. They are laser-focused on hating Donald Trump and musing about how cruel they are while they stay in a party that literally valorizes assassinations and riots, defends Venezuelan gangs taking over apartment buildings, and chooses to defend wife-beating human traffickers.
No, those are not fringe opinions in the Democratic Party. They are the mainstream, and the moderates are at the fringe of the Party.
This is why Gavin Newsom had to do a 180 earlier this year as he soft-launched his political campaign, and Seth Moulton rapidly walked back his moderation on trans issues. Newsom, you may recall, began the year sitting down with conservatives for his new podcast and dropped hints that he was actually moderate on trans issues, sort of, and after an avalanche of criticism, he switched over to doing a mini-me version of Trump as a lefty.
There is no room for moderation in the Democratic Party on the national level. That is why Pete Buttigieg, who cosplays one at times, has a ceiling of support far below that which is necessary to get the nomination in 2028. About a quarter of the Democrats long for a normal candidate and gravitate to him, but the left will eviscerate him when push comes to shove. Not because he isn’t very very liberal, but because he works hard not to appear radical.
The base wants radical. That’s why the most energy in the party is behind Mamdani, Sanders, Warren, and AOC. For God’s sake, Jasmine Crockett is super popular with Democrats, and she cosplays a radical idiot (she is actually smart, believe it or no
The Democratic Party is not, at its core, liberal in any sense anymore. There was a time when it was aiming for a version of a free market system with a heavy dose of social insurance.
Seizing the Means of Production is, of course, not just a socialist goal, but a throughly Communist & Marxist one. Mamdani is a Communist. https://t.co/UihxzZwQCi
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) June 30, 2025
Now? The base is anticapitalist and authoritarian.
I understand why moderate Democrats cringe at the modern Republican Party. I honestly do. Culturally, the base of the Party is alien to them, and many moderate Democrats are reflexively creeped out by talk about God.
“Like many atheists, Dawkins is discovering too late that the religious beliefs he worked so hard to destroy were, in fact, the foundation on which his civilization rested.”https://t.co/vVLM2VrHVY
— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) April 3, 2024
But geez, man. Look at who your fellow travelers are. They are violent and insane.
Richard Dawkins gets it, although I can’t say that he would vote Republican should he be able to. The West is in danger.
Richard Dawkins, renowned atheist, now embraces being a cultural Christian and he says the West must be preserved. pic.twitter.com/un5DqJMSnn
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 1, 2024
Moderates are going to have to wrap their heads around the fact that there are, currently, two sides in the war for civilization, and they are currently on the wrong side. We can argue about social insurance when we win, but if they help the radical left win, we will have bigger problems than whether the state funds dental care or not.
Cuba has “free” health care. Do you want to live there? Or Venezuela?
We can’t fool ourselves about what is at stake.
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