A national survey of 1,000 likely voters taken by the Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports in early December asked participants if they preferred a free-market economic system or a socialist economic system. A large majority — 75 percent — of respondents prefer a free-market system over a socialist system.
The survey also asked those polled for their opinions on “progressive” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who rode to victory on the coattails of committed socialist senator Bernie Sanders.
When asked about their opinion of AOC, only 37 percent said “favorable.” (Eighteen percent said “very favorable,” while 19 percent said “somewhat favorable.”) In contrast, 38 percent of likely voters said they have a “very unfavorable” impression of AOC, and 10 percent said they have a “somewhat unfavorable” impression of her, making a total of 48 percent unfavorable. (About 15 percent said they were not sure.)
The survey also asked about Joe Biden, again asking participants if they had “a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable” impression of the presidential claimant. Thirty-six percent said they have a “very unfavorable impression” of Biden with a smaller number (32 percent) replying that they have a “very favorable impression” of the former vice president. Nineteen percent said they have a “somewhat favorable impression” of Biden, while 11 percent responded that they have a “somewhat unfavorable impression” of him. (Just two percent said they are “not sure.”)
A statement from the Heartland Institute about the survey said,
Despite the increased calls for socialism by many on the far left, the vast majority of likely voters believe that the United States should embrace a free-market economy. Only a sliver of likely voters think that the United States should abandon the free-market capitalistic policies that are responsible for making the United States the wealthiest nation in world history. Despite the countless calls for more socialism among elites in media and Hollywood, Americans aren’t interested in adopting the same socialist policies that have led to mass poverty wherever they have been tried.
Of course, apologists for Sanders, including his former campaign staffer, Tezlyn Figaro, disagreed with the finding of the poll. Speaking on Fox News’ Fox & Friends Weekend on December 27, Figaro said “Polls depend on who you’re asking,” and pointed to a poll taken by Britain’s newspaper, The Guardian, showing that its readers preferred socialism. Britain, of course, adopted socialism years before such a philosophy was ever seriously considered in the United States.
Robert Welch, who founded the constitutionalist organization The John Birch Society in 1958, visited England in the late 1940s to study the economic effects of postwar socialism there and was shocked by what he saw.
“It’s state socialism, pure and unadorned,” Welch described the British system in speeches to civic groups upon his return to the United States. “There is no reason on Earth why we should import, or let ourselves be infected by, such diseases … as socialism and communism and other ideological cancers.”
Although Americans still hold a largely unfavorable view of socialism, support for a system that has failed to produce economic prosperity wherever it has been tried is greater among younger voters, where support grew to roughly 20 percent in the Heartland-Rasmussen poll. However, support for free-market capitalism among respondents aged 18-39 has increased from 59 percent in 2019 to 68 percent in the latest poll, the Heartland Institute noted. This trend is surprising, considering the domination of our nation’s educational system by liberals favorable to what they call “progressive” politics.
The poll numbers regarding Ocasio-Cortez should not be surprising, considering that AOC appears to be alienating even other Democrats. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who may be the most conservative Democrat in Congress, dismissed AOC’s political influence, saying, “She’s more active on Twitter than anything else.” She responded to this by saying, “I find it amusing when politicians try to diminish the seriousness of our policy work, movement organizing and grassroots fundraising to ‘she just tweets,’ as though ‘serious’ politics is only done by begging corporate CEOs for money through wax-sealed envelopes delivered by raven.”
AOC’s outspoken “progressive” positions cost her a seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee after members voted 46-13 to award the seat to AOC’s fellow New York representative Kathleen Rice.
Other Democrats in the House have criticized AOC for supporting “progressive” challengers to more moderate Democrat incumbents. In other words, she was faulted for not being a team player.
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