[Edited Message Follows] On Wed, Jan 7, 2026 at 01:25 AM, Mark Baugher wrote: What people mean by those terms differs widely. Some use "communist" in the Third International sense and some use it to refer directly to Marx's work or other reasons. I don't know what Jack Barnes calls himself a "communist" but I can tell you it means nothing in Barnes' case. Some people find it sounds more radical than "socialist." Either way, we are playing with labels that are not self-defining.
Charles replied: Of course. The important thing is change in poll numbers over time. Wanna bet on what percent of those under age 30 had a favorable view of communism in 2006? Back in the 90's I worked for 2 separate polling/market research firms. One, with a very good reputation in polling, the other, eh. At Mervin Field, Mark DiCamillo told us, in meetings, if the respondent asked, "what do you mean by X?," we were instructed to reply, "It is whatever you think it means." Charles sent the listserv, a graphic from a YouGov survey conducted for the Cato Institute. https://www.cato.org/blog/81-say-they-cant-afford-pay-higher-taxes-next-year Cato Institute 2025 Fiscal Policy https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2025-04/Tax%20Policy%20Survey_2025_2.pdf Poll (Release II) CATO INSTITUTE/YOUGOV • N=2000 MARGIN OF ERROR +/- 2.41% *. COLUMNS MAY NOT ADD UP TO 100% DUE TO ROUNDING. Full survey toplines found here. https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2025-04/Tax%20Policy%20Survey_2025_2.pdf Full survey crosstabs found here. https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2025-04/Crosstabs_Cato2025TaxSurvey_Release2_2.xlsx 59. Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of Socialism? 60. Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of Capitalism? 61. Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of Communism? Scroll over on the crosstabs, and one will see that 9 percent of those aged 18-29 had a "very favorable," opinion of ,"communism," and 39 percent of those aged 18-29 had a ,"very unfavorable," view of ,"communism." YouGov has also conducted other polls for The Economist and the Victims of Communism Foundation on socialism and communism, in the last 10 years. https://victimsofcommunism.org/annual-poll/ https://victimsofcommunism.org/annual-poll/2020-annual-poll/ "Socialist sentiment is increasing among younger generations with Gen Z’s favorability at 49%, up from 40% in 2019." "30% of Gen Z has a favorable view of Marxism, up 6% from 2019, compared to 27% of Millennials, down 9% from 2019." "26% of Gen Z believe Marxism most looks like a totalitarian state that suppresses the freedom of its citizens." (See pg. 18 of https://victimsofcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/10.19.20-VOC-YouGov-Survey-on-U.S.-Attitudes-Toward-Socialism-Communism-and-Collectivism.pdf ) https://victimsofcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/10.19.20-VOC-YouGov-Survey-on-U.S.-Attitudes-Toward-Socialism-Communism-and-Collectivism.pdf "The term ‘capitalism’ is still viewed most favorably but has waned slightly in the past few years• Overall, the term ‘capitalism’ is viewed far more favorably than that of other economic systems — however it has trended down to 55% from a high in 2018 of 61%.• Favorability of the term ‘socialism’ has rebounded slightly to 40% this year after falling to 36% in 2019 (from 42% in 2018).• Favorability of ‘socialism’ is up from 2019 among Gen Z (9 points), Gen X (6 points), and among Baby Boomers(5 points).• While most Americans perceive the label ‘capitalist’ as neutral, it is the only label that is considered a compliment by more than those who consider it an insult.• ‘Socialist’ is viewed as an insult by 37%, with ‘Marxist’ and ‘communist’ being viewed as insults by 53% and 67%, respectively.• The percentage who say ‘communist’ is an insult is up 6 points from 61% in 2019. This is driven by the following generations:• Millennials: 40% 53%• Gen X: 65% 71%• Silent Generation: 80% 88%" "Favorability of the term ‘Marxism’ is falling among Millennials and rising for Gen Z• ’Marxism’ still has the highest favorability among Gen Z (30%) and Millennials (27%) compared to other generations.• Yet the favorability of ‘Marxism’ is down 9 points for Millennials while it is up 6 points for Gen Z from 2019.Knowledge of Marxism and socialism remains varied• 26% of Gen Z believe Marxism most looks like a totalitarian state that suppresses the freedom of its citizens, compared to72% of the Silent Generation and 58% of Boomers.• Overall, 85% say they know at least a little about socialism. However, 68% of Americans do not define socialism as the government owning all property and controlling nearly 100% of the national economy." https://victimsofcommunism.org/annual-poll/2019-annual-poll/ https://victimsofcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VOC-YG_US-Attitudes-Socialism-Communism-and-Collectivism-2019.pdf https://victimsofcommunism.org/annual-poll/2018-annual-poll/ https://victimsofcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VOC-YG_US-Attitudes-Socialism-2018.pdf https://victimsofcommunism.org/annual-poll/2017-annual-poll/ https://victimsofcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VOC-YG_US-Attitudes-Socialism-2017.pdf -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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