Several commentators have noted strong similarities between social liberalism and social democracy, with one political scientist even calling American liberalism "bootleg social democracy" due to the absence of a significant social democratic tradition in the United States that liberals have tried to rectify.
Varios comentaristas observaron fortes semellanzas entre o liberalismo social e a socialdemocracia, cun científico político que até mesmo chamou o liberalismo americano de bootleg social democracy debido á ausencia dunha tradición socialdemócrata significativa nos Estados Unidos que os liberais tentaron corrixir.