A recent survey from the Cato Institute and YouGov, an international polling company, shows that almost two-thirds of Americans under 30, or 62%, view socialism favorably. This statistic is higher than the support shown in the general population and higher than past polls monitoring socialistic and communistic views for those between 18-29.
Campus Reform reports those identifying as Democrats were more likely to hold a favorable view of socialism. It is important to note that socialism was not defined in the survey, but a senior editor at Cato said the idea most had in mind shared a “disdain for capitalism.”
Emily Ekins, vice president of polling at the Cato Institute, explains how this came to be.
"Many of them do not fully understand what these systems entail. They are benefiting from a system of capitalism and free markets. But I think that they fail to understand, how the standard of living, the technology that they benefit from, the medical breakthroughs that can alleviate human suffering, how those things are made possible through the free market system," informs Ekins.
Ekins believes improving the school curriculum would be a major part of solving this perception of socialism that the younger generation has.
"I think our nation's educators need to see the knowledge gap. See which generations of Americans know these things and which generations don't," says Ekins.
However, a previous poll from Campus Reform, which was covered by AFN, shows that a 88% of college students only pretend to have progressive views to appease left-leaning professors.
The study was conducted by Northwestern University, and it encompassed 1,500 interviews from undergraduate students at two universities, Northwestern and University of Michigan.
Jonathan Butcher from The Heritage Foundation says this is no surprise.
“There have been surveys of students in higher education going back a decade, at least, that showed that conservative students in particular are fearful of sharing their views on campus because they're afraid of what either other students or professors may think of them," Butcher says.
