Attitudes about socialism in America seem to shifting significantly. According to a recent Gallup survey, 51 percent of Americans believe socialism would be a bad thing for the United States, while 43 percent say it would be good. The big change compared to survey results from the early years of World War 2 is the number of people who are undecided.
In 1942 pollsters asked the same question, and 40 percent then described socialism as a bad thing, 25 percent a good thing, and 34 percent did not have an opinion.
A growing number of Democrats have warmed to the idea of socialism over the last decade, according to Gallup. In the 2018 poll 57 percent said they view socialism in a positive way. However, the same number of Democrats this year said they believe that over the next 50 years most of the world's governments will be Democratic, while only 29% said they most nations will be lead by socialists.
On the flip side of the coin, 71 percent of Republicans said they prefer capitalism. Only 16 percent of Republicans in the most recent survey view socialism favorably.