20 percent of Americans can't define 'socialism' even as it's become the focus of 2020

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Despite the rise to prominence of openly socialist politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), many Americans say they cannot define socialism, according to a new poll.

In a May 29-30 Hill-HarrisX survey of registered voters, 20 percent said they were unsure what socialism was.

The study also found that respondents gravitated toward both positive and negative definitions of the term much more than toward its academic meaning. Only 13 percent described socialism as government ownership of some parts of the economy.



Twenty-eight percent said they believed socialism was fulfilling basic needs like healthcare, housing, and a job to everyone while another 5 percent believed it meant ending poverty.

Twenty-two percent said they viewed socialism as a system lacking in civil liberties and political freedoms while seven percent associated it with abolishing all private property.

https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/446377-20-percent-of-americans-cant-define-socialism-even-as-its

Looking at the pie chart it seems that 48% of those polled don't know what Socialism is. No doubt they're all Trump supporters.

[FBaggins]

1. With you up until the comment

They can’t ALL be trump supporters because we see misunderstanding of the term right here on DU quite regularly.

[hfojvt]

2. is there supposed to be one true definition?

As I recall my graduate school course on socialism (which also had undergrad students in it) there were a bunch of different definitions, even from leading socialists themselves.

"government ownership of some parts of the economy" seems like a dumb definition to me. That would mean I was born in a socialist country and it was still a socialist country in 1983 (after Reagan).

My problem with socialism is this

1) Republicans have been calling democrats socialists for decades
2) Democrats have denied it.

To nominate a socialist now, or to embrace socialism would basically be saying that "well, er, ah, Republicans have actually been right all along, and we have been lying for decades". I think it would effectively end the Democratic Party, and also that the new Democratic Socialist party would get slaughtered in the next election. Trump would be re-elected like Reagan in 1984 and Pence would be elected like Bush in 1988, and they would have huge Republican majorities in Congress.

[scarytomcat]

3. and then the human race dies

I don't think pence can win.