June 24, 2015 Good News for Bernie Sanders? Poll Shows 47% of Americans Would Vote for a Socialist
A sizeable chunk of Americans say they’d consider voting to send a socialist to the Oval Office.
A new Gallup poll shows that 47 percent of Americans would consider voting for a socialist candidate. Gallup has been polling Americans on their voting preferences for candidates of different backgrounds since 1937, but this year was the first time they inquired about socialism.
When broken down on party lines, a socialist candidate would earn the consideration of 59 percent of Democrats, 49 percent of Independents, and only 26 percent of Republicans. Overall, socialism charted the lowest of all the backgrounds referenced in the poll. Atheist and Muslim candidates ranked second- and third-lowest among the American populace, at 58 and 60 percent respectively.
This poll comes less than two months after Bernie Sanders announced his candidacy, becoming the first self-described socialist (with at least a decent chance of winning) to do so in more than a decade.
Advocates for Sanders argue that the Gallup poll is misleading for a number of reasons. While Americans may disapprove of a socialist candidate, they strongly support policies that Sanders stands for. Fifty-two percent support a redistribution of wealth through heavily taxing the rich, for example—the highest number that Gallup has seen since first asking that question in 1940. And 63 percent of Americans believe that the current distribution of wealth in the US is unfair.
Part of the reason for this dissonance is confusion among the America population as to what the word “socialism” even means. Many often associate it with the authoritarian Communism of the Soviet Union instead of the social democracies of modern-day Scandinavian countries, which Sanders strongly backs.
Even though the number of voters who say they would consider voting for a socialist candidate is below an outright majority, the fact that the number of Americans who would consider voting for a socialist is at 47 percent, in a country with a long history of vicious red-baiting, seems to suggest that Americans aren’t as afraid of the word “socialist” as many on the Right would like them to be.
Meanwhile, Sanders seems to be getting through to the American people. He consistently draws the largest crowds of any candidate to his events in Iowa, and 32 percent of New Hampshire Democrats and 41 percent of Wisconsin Democrats are backing him. Sanders has more than seven months to build a solid voting bloc, before the first primaries on February 1, 2016.
June 24, 2015 Good News for Bernie Sanders? Poll Shows 47% of Americans Would Vote for a Socialist
A sizeable chunk of Americans say they’d consider voting to send a socialist to the Oval Office.
They would CONSIDER voting for a socialist?????.....THEY ALREADY HAVE HISTORICALLY!!!! under the dem/rep label!!!! It just don't matter anymore.......DON'T VOTE!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, laughed when he was asked by "Late Show" host Stephen Colbert why he wouldn't take the words "liberal" and "socialist" to be insults.
"I prefer the term, actually, to be a progressive and I'll tell you why," he said. Using Denmark as an example, Sanders said that social-democratic countries had better health care, child care and higher education systems than those in the United States.
"What you have is a society where government -- as I believe it should in this country, radical idea though it may be -- should actually represent working people and the middle class rather than large campaign donors," Sanders said.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
The good news for Bernie is the DNC has let him get this far. Personally, I don't know why since he isn't a member of the DNC.
The bad news for Bernie is that the DNC will never let him get the nomination, even when Hillary fails. Which is why you see them desperately scrambling to find some other 'high profile' retread to back.
Oh and Bernie has said that America was founded on racist principles. Typical of most all leftists these days.
"I would hope and I believe that every person in this room today understands that it is unacceptable to judge people, to discriminate against people based on the color of their skin. And I would also say that as a nation– the truth is, that a nation which in many ways was created, and I’m sorry to have to say this, from way back on racist principles, that’s a fact – we have come a long way as a nation.”
"Approval ratings go up and down for various reasons... An example is the high post 911 support for GWB even though he could be said to be responsible for the event." --- Box A Rox '9/11 Truther'
Melania is a bimbo... she is there to look at, not to listen to. --- Box A Rox and his 'War on Women'
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