Voter Feelings on Capitalism and Socialism

Feelings associated with the words capitalism and socialism are still incredibly polarizing for registered voters in the U.S., according to a new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal released on Sunday.

In a survey of 1000 registered voters between January 26-29, respondents had almost identical and opposite feelings toward capitalism and socialism in the U.S. With capitalism, 52 percent of voters said they felt very positive or somewhat positive, while 53 percent said they felt very negative or somewhat negative toward socialism. A similar 18 percent and 19 percent of respondents felt negatively about capitalism and positively about socialism, respectively.

The survey comes at a time when some liberal legislators and voters in the country are calling for reforms aimed at making services like healthcare and college free for all in the U.S. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who is leading in some national and state polls, has championed many of these policies and describes himself as a democratic socialist.

Those who feel positive about President Donald Trump reached an all-time high with the NBC/ Wall Street Journal survey, with 43 percent feeling either very positive or somewhat positive and 51 percent feeling somewhat negative or very negative.