I & I Editorial BoardA Fox News poll finds that a majority of Democrats say they have a favorable view of the Democratic Socialists of America. But our I&I/TIPP Poll found that Democrats reject – sometimes overwhelmingly – key DSA policy proposals.
What explains the gap?
The Fox Poll also found that 52% of Democrats have a favorable view of socialism, compared with 11% of Republicans and 17% of independents. Support for the Democratic Socialists of America is even stronger, with 59% of Democrats expressing a favorable view, compared with 6% of Republicans.
As NBC News remarked, “step outside the Democratic Party, it’s a totally different world.” (Yet, we are constantly told that Republicans are the extremists.)
You’d think socialism’s 100-plus-year record of failure would be enough to dissuade people from embracing tenets that led to the horrors of Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, etc. But hope springs eternal, apparently.
(And, just for the record, despite what Bernie Sanders says, the Nordic countries are not socialist. Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway come in seventh, eighth, 10th, and 11th, respectively, in the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom. Switzerland comes in second place. The U.S. ranks 22nd.)
What’s even more unfathomable is why Democrats have such a positive view of the DSA when they reject many of its central positions.
Our I&I/TIPP poll found that not one of the DSA’s key policy positions we asked about gets a majority of Democratic support. (See: “Americans Reject The DSA’s Policy Platform: I&I/TIPP Poll.”)
For example, the DSA – like all socialists everywhere – calls for government ownership of the largest corporations and key industries. But only 37% of Democrats say they support that, while 47% oppose.
How about amnesty for illegal immigrants? Only 44% of Democrats like that idea.
Defund the U.S. military? That’s in the DSA’s platform. Yet only 40% of Democrats say they agree with this idea (which, while a shockingly high number, is far from a majority).
How about abolishing jails and prisons? That’s also in the DSA’s platform. It gets the support of only 27% of Democrats.
And do Democrats agree with the DSA that we should, for the betterment of mankind, get rid of the presidency and the Supreme Court? Only 30% of them do, while 53% oppose the idea.
So, what gives?
Are those Democrats who say they like the DSA – and who are letting it take over their party – ignorant of its radical planks? Do they think the DSA isn’t serious about its own proposals? (The DSA itself says you have to buy into its platform to get its support.) Are they too blinded by Trump hatred to bother looking at the particulars?
As Democrats try to figure out what to do about the surge in support for DSA candidates, they might consider mounting an educational campaign among their own rank and file.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
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Unleash Prosperity
Why do Democrats favor DSA while eschewing many of its planks. Two reasons:
1) Lousy public school education which for decades has insinuated into its classes through its liberal/pink/teacher union teachers (especially history and social science classes) Socialist tenets.
2) What else? Trump Derangement Syndrome.
I would suggest that the problem is that many people are attracted to slogans and names, and organize themselves under those first. The leaders of the movement understand this, which is why they pick good-looking and presentable people to make the case for the cause. AOC’s career is based entirely upon marketing; it’s not based upon the message (except to her most loyal disciples). Bernie Sanders is the one exception; he is certainly less presentable than his younger stablemates. Lizzie Warren is being kept in the background, except when the leadership thinks she can make a point (which she usually falls from, and tumbles down the mountain). But with them, it starts with the marketing of the people before the presenting of the ideas.
This further supports what I call the “Large Mouth Bass Theory” wherein a majority of Democrats reflexively vote for anyone with a (D) after their name. Like a fish striking a shiny lure they do so reflexively, without consideration or rational thought. What else explains how many Jews voting for Zohran Mamdani, an antisemitic, Jew-hating, Islamo-Fascist trust fund baby who never had to pay rent, never held a job, and sure as hell never had to meet a payroll.
There is a very simple explanation for this. Democrats are typically low information people because they read rags like the NYT or the WaPo, or listen to NBC, ABC, CBS, etc., which use the bias of omission to help the Democratic Party. They hide the ugly stuff if it reflects poorly on Democrats. For example, I asked a DIL the other day a question about Hunter’s laptop. She is an avid reader of the NYT. Didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. None of these Dems know what DSA stands for. The MSM hides most of it through this bias.