Young People Aren’t Embracing Socialism
By: Chester Davis
Tags: Propaganda, Critical Thinking, Socialism, Politics

Photo by Kirill Sharkovski on Unsplash

These guys are the symbols of modern Liberalism, aren’t they? Many young people embrace socialism and reject capitalism, or some do anyway. Liberal support for single-payer healthcare and “free” college education can’t be explained any other way. Is that true? Are liberals, especially young liberals are liking freedom less and socialism more. Right?

No one really knows. This is a good line to make older and conservative Americans worry about the future of the United States, but it doesn’t look like this worry is justifiable.

And, in case you were wondering, socialism has nothing to do with government programs or environmental laws or the Gestapo. Socialism is simply an economic system where the government owns factories, land, hospitals, and so on. This post is about support for things like that. Lastly, socialism is not a proper noun. It is something widely misrepresented by right-wing politicians and political pundits.

Misrepresenting Reality

Saying that something is increasing or becoming more popular implies you have gathered historical data. If multiple poll results over the past 10 years show that a growing percentage of people under 30 have a favorable or very favorable view of socialism, then you have something interesting.

But, in political rhetoric, we don’t ask why socialism is gaining in popularity or becoming less unpopular. Instead, we say that the “other side” has embraced socialism. Political pundits often list things that aren’t related to socialism.

Warning: Insidious propaganda ahead. You won’t get another notice, so read closely.

How Popular is Socialism?

In short, socialism probably isn’t too popular. It might be more popular than it was decades ago, but good luck getting anyone to present evidence that proves it. Instead, let’s take a quick look at support for socialism among young people over time.

How many people under age 30 had a positive view of socialism in 1999? In 2009? In the past couple of years? What if the percentage increased from 14% in 1998 to 31% in August of 2019. What does this tell us?

Well, those numbers tell us that socialism is becoming more popular after all. The increase from 14% to 31% is dramatic so how could anyone deny that socialism is becoming more popular?

What Historical Research Can Tell Us

Polling organizations have asked people about their views of socialism and capitalism numerous times over several decades. Those surveys collect data on age, gender, education level, and party affiliation.

Consider this Gallup poll:

The poll presents lots of data on how men, women, people of different age groups, and people who lean Republican or Democrat feel about socialism. You can see similar insights into how people felt about capitalism. The main thing you should probably take away is the high approval of socialism among people under 30. Overall, 50% have a ‘very positive’ or ‘somewhat positive’ view of socialism.

Note Well: There is more than one flavor of socialism. If 50% of people under 30 have a favorable view of socialism, this doesn’t tell us anything about anything else. We can’t say anything about their political views or morals. Are those people in favor of destroying capitalism or seizing control of the hospitals? Do 50% of these young people believe the government should run all aspects of our lives? This is sort of what it looks like. Right?

Reading Statistical Propaganda

Remember one key point about social science reasoning — you can’t establish a social trend with two data points. Also, remember that you can’t infer anything about political views in general from one question on socialism.

Remember 14% and 31%? Yes, two numbers from 20 years apart. How does that prove anything? If we looked at more Pew research might we find the numbers varying from 14% to 32% over those 20 years? Might we see there’s no obvious trend when we plot all those numbers?

In short, yes, that is entirely possible. This article has simply been a short object lesson in creating propaganda with statistics so the question was a rhetorical one.