Many Americans prefer socialism to capitalism, new poll finds
BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Thursday, April 9th 2009, 12:13 PM
With the U.S. government taking a majority stake in banks, bossing around the auto industry, and floating the possibility of nationalized healthcare, there have been rumblings in the media that the U.S. is leaning toward socialism.
A new poll suggests that if there's merit to those arguments, many Americans wouldn't mind.
Only a slight majority of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Asked whether capitalism or socialism is a better system, 53% of American adults cited capitalism, 20% said socialism and 27% said they weren't sure.
The question posed by Rasmussen did not define capitalism or socialism, which could skew the poll's results, but the findings appear to reflect the public's concerns about capitalism in the midst of a recession.
The poll of 1,000 adults nationwide, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, has a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
According to the poll, adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, while adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided.
Republicans - by an 11-to-1 margin - believe capitalism is superior to socialism, the poll found. Democrats are much more closely divided, with 39% preferring capitalism and 30% backing socialism.
Investors by a 5-to-1 margin said capitalism is better than socialism.
Many Americans prefer socialism to capitalism, new poll finds
Many Americans prefer socialism to capitalism, new poll finds
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