- Nationally, 7-in-10 Democratic voters with at least four years of college support democratic socialism, compared to 52% without a degree.
- More than 64% of Democratic voters aged 18-34 support socialism as an economic system, roughly 20 points higher than older Democrats.
- In a survey, 22% of voters said democratic socialism means universal healthcare and stronger social safety net; 22% said they didn’t know.
Young, college-educated Democrats are driving a shift toward “democratic socialism” — the latest political buzzword that has carried congressional candidates to primary victories and catapulted New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez near the top of 2028 presidential preference polls.
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Just under two-thirds of Democratic voters nationwide — and almost three-quarters in Utah — have a favorable view of candidates and political leaders who describe themselves as “democratic socialists,” according to a new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll.
Increasing openness to the term, which was considered taboo a decade ago when Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders made it core to his White House campaign, stems from supermajority support among Democrats with a university degree, the Morning Consult survey found.
Nationally, 7 in 10 Democratic voters with at least four years of college experience support democratic socialism as an economic system, compared to 52% of Democratic voters without.
Both groups are significantly less eager to embrace socialism without the “democratic” modifier. But this hesitancy regarding outright government ownership of industries and radical wealth redistribution seems to mostly disappear among the youngest generation of voters.
More than 64% of Democratic voters ages 18-34 support “socialism” as an economic system. This share is roughly 20 percentage points larger than among older generations of Democrats.
As Democrats try to retake seats in working-class battlegrounds, like Michigan, “democratic socialism” could become a liability. Americans remain deeply split over what it means, why it is gaining momentum and whether it will be constructive or catastrophic for American democracy.
What is democratic socialism?
In a survey of 2,102 registered U.S. voters from Sept. 10-14, respondents were spread almost evenly between what they thought best summarized the meaning of “democratic socialism.”
Overall, 22% of voters said universal healthcare and a stronger social safety net. Another 22% said they didn’t know. The rest were divided, with less than 20% saying higher taxes and more government spending, government control of the economy, or greater economic equality.
Republican voters were more likely to say the first thing that comes to mind when they hear the phrase is tax-and-spend policies. Democrats focused their definitions on government services.
For Harper West, a 30-year-old history major working in finance and living in Salt Lake City, democratic socialism entails nothing short of revolution. After growing up “very conservative,” he joined the Democratic Socialists of America to support unionization at a local Starbucks in 2022.
The self-described “democratic socialist” views capitalism as a “hyper-exploitative system” that empowers “a few hundred billionaires” to alienate workers from the fruits of their labor for corporate profit. He clarified: democratic socialists want much more than a progressive party.
“We’re moving away from a false choice between establishment Democrats and Republicans — between capitalism and more capitalism,” West told the Deseret News. “We represent a transformative program to change the fundamental structure of society.”
Current or former DSA members who toppled incumbents during Democratic primaries in New York, Colorado and Michigan often cite Scandinavia, not the Soviet Union, as their model.
Countries like Denmark, Norway and Sweden fund their expansive healthcare, higher education and retirement benefits with tax-to-GDP ratios up to 20 points higher than in the U.S., with top personal income tax rates falling particularly on middle-class earners — not just the billionaires.
While some point to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s agenda of public transportation and grocery stores as encapsulating democratic socialism, the leadership of DSA — of which Mamdani is a dues-paying member — characterize themselves as communists and Marxists.
The demographics of DSA
Most voters still support the framework of private enterprise and free markets that has fueled America’s 250-year metamorphosis into the most prosperous nation ever founded.
A solid majority of 55% of U.S. voters support capitalism as an economic system; 29% oppose it, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points. This ratio is nearly flipped for socialism. But the survey suggests that this could change in the future.
At 46%, a plurality of voters under 35 support socialism. While most voters are strongly opposed to communism, with just 15% supporting it and 71% opposing it, 30% of the youngest cohort support it — more than double the share of any other age group.
Demographics may underlie much of the leftward turn among Democrats. Over the past few decades, individuals with postgraduate degrees but lower household incomes have become the most-likely Democratic voting group in America, according to Cooperative Election Study data.
Democratic socialists also tend to be white, and, based on a in 2021, most often report their occupation as a white-collar worker, teacher, nonprofit or public sector employee.
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The liberal slide among white, educated voters over the past 20 years has been dramatic, said Michael Barber, a professor of political ideology at Brigham Young University. However, Barber is reluctant to conclude that this means a pivot to the fringe for the Democratic Party.
“From my perspective, it seems it’s almost like it’s a kind of rebranding of the same policies,” Barber told the Deseret News. “It’s a little puzzling to me.”
Democratic socialists have found success in deep-blue districts with popular proposals around healthcare and housing, Barber noted. But since that label is viewed favorably by just 39% of voters, it could be a drag in the general election, especially in swing states, he added.
What’s behind the momentum?
More than one-third of U.S. voters attribute the growing prominence of democratic socialism in U.S. politics to the rising cost of housing and the cost of living, the poll found. This reason is particularly common among Democrats and voters under 45, with about 4 in 10 selecting it.
A similar share of U.S. voters said growing inequality between the wealthy and everyone else was to thank for the trend. This was the explanation a whopping 68% of Utah Democrats relied on. Meanwhile, 32% of Utah Republicans blamed a misunderstanding of the benefits of capitalism.
Between 15%-30% of all voters said that either frustration with both major political parties, struggles with employment, or social media influencers might also have something to do with it.
But the poll may reveal more about financial stress than ideological conversion, according to Jason Perry, who serves as director at the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics.
“I don’t think we should necessarily interpret this as a rejection of capitalism,” Perry told the Deseret News. “It may tell us more about younger voters looking for ways to address the economic pressures they are experiencing, particularly housing, healthcare and the cost of living.”
Utah Democrats stand out as being 15 percentage points more likely than national peers to embrace democratic socialism in the survey of 744 voters with a margin of error of +/- 4 points.
This appears to contrast with the outcome of Utah’s first competitive Democratic congressional primary in years. In June, former Utah Rep. Ben McAdams, who was one of the most moderate Democrats in the House, defeated three democratic socialist-leaning opponents in a landslide.
In an interview with the Deseret News, McAdams reaffirmed he is “not a democratic socialist.” Many voters may feel that the “system is not working for them,” but that does not mean capitalism is broken, he said. What the country needs is a “well-regulated free market.”
“People are hurting,” he said. “We have cut taxes for billionaires and corporations at the expense of core social safety net provisions that are needed for people who are really struggling.”
Is democratic socialism a threat?
With public opinion souring on GOP leadership, Republican representatives have done all they can to paint their Democratic counterparts as communists. President Donald Trump has led the way, making the Red Scare approach central to his midterm messaging strategy.
But this framing might not be as hyperbolic as it first sounds, according to Salt Lake County Council member Carlos Moreno, who became a citizen in 2022 after fleeing from Venezuela where he was charged with treason by the government of then-dictator Nicolás Maduro.
For Moreno, debates over the meaning of democratic socialism, and whether or not it represents a slippery slope to authoritarianism, are not academic; they were experienced.
Forced nationalization of businesses, food shortages, a refugee crisis and a crackdown on civil liberties is not how socialism was originally sold to voters in Venezuela, Moreno told the Deseret News. It was billed as a way to achieve social justice, equality and support for working families.
“Sometimes the most ‘democratic’ part of socialism is how its advocates get into power,” he said. “Elections, democratic institutions and attractive promises can become the vehicle through which political power is obtained and then used to dramatically expand government control.”
Young people may be more susceptible to arguments for socialism because they cannot remember dramatic failures of socialist systems during the 20th century, Moreno suspects. Capitalism is imperfect, Moreno said, but it provides freedom to innovate and improve itself.
There is a chance misinformation, paired with discouraging housing markets and missteps in healthcare policy, could cause young people to forget that, according to Moreno.
“That is why the growing popularity of ‘democratic socialism’ in the United States concerns me,” he said.
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