While 39% of Americans have both a positive view of capitalism and a negative view of socialism, a quarter have positive views of both terms and 17% express negative opinions about both. Many do not view socialism, capitalism in ‘either-or’ terms The survey, conducted April 29-May 13, 2019, also asked adults about their impressions of several other terms: “libertarian,” “progressive,” “liberal” and “conservative.” Republicans and Democrats diverge in their impressions of progressive, liberal and conservative, but express similar views of libertarian. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats (65%) have a positive view of socialism, but only 14% have a very positive view.
More than eight-in-ten Republicans (84%) have a negative impression of socialism a 63% majority has a very negative view. There are large partisan differences in views of capitalism: Nearly eight-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (78%) express somewhat or very positive reactions to the term, while just over half of Democrats and Democratic leaners (55%) say they have a positive impression.īut these differences are dwarfed by the partisan gap in opinions about socialism. Overall, a much larger share of Americans have a positive impression of capitalism (65%) than socialism (42%), according to a new survey by Pew Research Center. Republicans express intensely negative views of “socialism” and highly positive views of “capitalism.”īy contrast, majorities of Democrats view both terms positively, though only modest shares have strong impressions of each term.