A majority of registered voters say they are concerned about Democratic Socialist candidates running for and winning office, according to a new survey highlighted by Just the News. The result comes as socialist candidates gain visibility within Democratic politics and turn the economic direction of the country into a central issue before the November midterms.
The Center Square Voters Voice survey found that 55 percent of respondents were concerned about Democratic Socialists seeking elected office, while 37 percent said they were not concerned. 35 percent said they were very concerned and another 20 percent said they were somewhat concerned.
Noble Predictive Insights conducted the poll from October 5 through October 7 among 2,527 registered voters through an opt in online panel and text messages to cell phones. The sample included 1,136 Republicans, 1,171 Democrats, and 220 independents who indicated they did not lean toward either of the major parties. The use of an opt in panel is an important limitation because it does not carry the same sampling properties as a fully probability-based survey.
The findings follow an earlier Voters Voice survey in August that showed a broader concern about socialism and communism in American political life. In that poll, 63 percent said they were concerned and 29 percent said they were not, with 36 percent calling themselves very concerned.
The concern has emerged as the Democratic Socialists of America says its endorsed candidates have won 67 races nationwide, though the organization also reports 62 losses among its candidates. Socialist candidates have come out victorious in races ranging from New York and Colorado to Michigan, California, and Florida, increasing pressure on Democrats to decide how closely their party should identify with the movement.
Even some Democrats have sounded the alarm. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania responded to a CBS News and YouGov survey that found 58 percent of Democratic respondents viewed socialism favorably, while 50 percent viewed capitalism negatively.
“The Democratic Party is becoming the party of socialism. 58% view socialism positively. 50% view capitalism negatively. I’m a proud free market capitalist. This is lunacy,” Fetterman wrote.
The same CBS and YouGov polling found that 32 percent of Democratic respondents held a positive view of capitalism, while 18 percent held a negative view of socialism. The gap captures a major ideological dispute inside the party, where some voters see socialism as an answer to inequality and rising costs while others view it as a threat to economic dynamism, entrepreneurship, and private property.
The Center Square survey showed that skepticism about socialism is not confined to Republicans. Its previous polling found that 49 percent of Democratic voters were concerned about socialism or communism gaining ground in American politics, while 40 percent said they were not concerned.
The rise of socialism reflects real frustration with the neoliberal and neoconservative consensus that hollowed out communities, encouraged offshoring, and often treated national sovereignty as an inconvenience. But socialism is not a workable solution. Its economic assumptions weaken incentives to build, invest, innovate, and produce, while its appetite for government control threatens productive citizens and small businesses.
A credible nationalist populist movement should offer a different path. It should demand full restriction of illegal and legal immigration, defend American workers and families, protect America’s White democratic core, restore domestic production, and reject both global corporate rule and socialist central planning.
