Gallup is out with a new poll that says 53% of Democrats or Democrat-leaners have a positive view of socialism. Overall, 61% of Americans rate capitalism positively, while 39% rate socialism positively. That 39% figure is up from 36% in 2010. Small business, free enterprise, and entrepreneurs all poll at least 85% positive. Those terms do better than either capitalism, socialism, or the federal government, even among respondents who identify themselves as Democrats or Democrat-leaners or as liberals.
Says Gallup: "Practically, these data suggest that politicians seeking the most positive overall reaction from voters should choose to use the term 'free enterprise' rather than 'capitalism' in describing America's prevailing economic system and preface mentions of the word 'business' with the adjective 'small.'"
The poll was conducted Nov. 18-19, 2012 "with a random sample of 1,040 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points."