ED O'KEEFE:
00:00:06
It's a really interesting survey. So give us the big picture. These recent Democratic primaries, they were close, especially out in the Midwest. Are Democrats really split over socialism? So let me start with the big picture among all Americans. Because most Americans say they think the free market is a good thing, they have a more positive view of capitalism than they do of socialism, and they're net negative on socialism. But yeah, by comparison, there is relatively more support or favorability of socialism among Democrats, not all Democrats, but it is a majority and higher than compared to capitalism. You ask people what that means, because these are just labels. And Democrats tend to describe socialism in terms of outcomes. Well, it's fairness. Well, there's more equality. And they're concerned about income inequality. Other people, other Americans describe it as government control, and that's in a more negative context. So, you can look at polling going back to the '30s, going to the '60s. There's always been these discussions of socialism, but they do tend to come out in tougher economic times. And even in this poll, we find, especially young people, saying like they feel opportunities are lesser now than they were for previous generations, that it's harder to get ahead, that the system doesn't work in a fair way. All that's the bigger context. So, as you rightly point out, this is a resurgence or re-emergence of socialism. Certainly, we've seen that this summer. How is it then, splitting the Democratic Party specifically? So one interesting thing is that it is college-educated Democrats, who are relatively more favorable for socialism. And yes, they have even slightly higher incomes. We've seen some of that, too, in the votes that you mentioned, the vote patterns in these states. What could be happening there is a sort of relative way, relative expectations, maybe they've got a little more money, but it doesn't buy them as much as they thought. And the other part of it is you ask people, is the Democratic Party as progressive as you'd like it to be? And that is also pretty even. Even as they have this argument amongst themselves. Ultimately, they've got to go find swing voters, maybe even Republican voters, to vote for at least some of these Democrats, if they have any hope of retaking control of Congress. So when you ask Americans overall about socialism and how the Democratic Party is sorting itself, what do they say? So the big question here, I think, is what are the Democrats offering that's in contrast to the Trump economy? And of course, they want this to be a referendum on the Trump economy. But Democrats say they'd like to have bigger ideas from their candidates than smaller or incremental ones. They'd like to see people who they think are fighting for them almost more affect than anything else. The way that plays going forward is that when you ask people to look back on other times Democrats have been in power, it's not necessarily seen as being successful. Remember, the last time inflation started under Democrats. So do they need to offer something new in contrast? This is ultimately a fight about what that is. Anthony, we'll talk a little bit more about this later. Thank you for now. Thanks.