The New York Post Editorial Board on Monday contended that a recent Gallup poll showing a decline in positive views of capitalism reflects a leftward shift among Democrats rather than a broad national turn toward socialism.
Citing Gallup data, the editorial said the share of Americans with a positive view of capitalism fell from 60% in 2021 to 54% this year, but that the drop occurred entirely among Democrats and independents, each down eight percentage points since 2021. For the first time, the editorial noted, fewer than half of Democrats — 42% — view capitalism positively, even as the party’s positive view of socialism has risen from 50% in 2010 to 66% now. Gallup reported that 57% of Americans still view socialism negatively.
The editorial argued that the apparent increase in sympathy for socialism is not the result of nationally spreading enthusiasm for socialist ideas but rather a consequence of Democratic voters moving left and Republican gains among those who disagree. The board wrote that without access to Gallup’s raw data, it is possible that the poll’s overall figures overrepresent Democrats, amplifying the appearance of a national trend.
The Post singled out prominent progressive figures, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani, as examples of the party’s leftward trajectory that, the board said, has coincided with an exodus of voters from the Democratic Party and gains for the Republican Party. The editorial presented that party movement as a parallel development to the changing attitudes captured in the Gallup questions.
Gallup first asked about positive views of capitalism and socialism in 2010. The poll’s reported trends show a decade-and-a-half shift in attitudes within the Democratic coalition, according to the Post’s interpretation. The editorial framed the decline in favorable views of capitalism and the rise in favorable views of socialism among Democrats as an internal realignment rather than a transformation of the broader electorate’s ideology.
The Post’s analysis reflects an interpretive reading of the Gallup numbers and highlights methodological questions about how national poll results are weighted and reported. The editorial recommended skepticism about headlines that present the poll as evidence of a nationwide embrace of socialist ideas, arguing instead that shifting party composition and partisan exit and entry are central to understanding the data.
Gallup’s published figures provide the numerical basis for the comparisons cited by the Post, but the newspaper’s conclusions about party overrepresentation and the electoral consequences of ideological shifts were framed as the editorial board’s interpretation of the poll and related political developments.