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Just 53% of Americans Say Capitalism Better Than Socialism
Rasmussen Reports ^ | 4/9/2009

Posted on 04/09/2009 8:18:42 AM PDT by rightwinggoth

Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better.

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better.

Investors by a 5-to-1 margin choose capitalism. As for those who do not invest, 40% say capitalism is better while 25% prefer socialism.

There is a partisan gap as well. Republicans - by an 11-to-1 margin - favor capitalism. Democrats are much more closely divided: Just 39% say capitalism is better while 30% prefer socialism. As for those not affiliated with either major political party, 48% say capitalism is best, and 21% opt for socialism.

(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2009polls; capitalism; genx; mccainordie; polls; schifflist; socialism
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1 posted on 04/09/2009 8:18:42 AM PDT by rightwinggoth
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To: rightwinggoth

The surprise here isn’t that so many younger respondents think they would prefer Socialism, it’s that so few do.


2 posted on 04/09/2009 8:20:45 AM PDT by papasmurf (Trow da' bum out!)
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To: rightwinggoth

My God. This is what we are up against. The 27% who didn’t know, probably didn’t know the difference.

This is what happens when you let Socialists take over our education system.


3 posted on 04/09/2009 8:21:37 AM PDT by KansasGirl
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To: rightwinggoth

Most people, especially the young, have no idea of what capitalism is, or how it works. The brainwashing in our public schools and institutes of “higher” learning has been most effective in generating a cohort of truly ignorant people who have no clue as to HOW to be an American.


4 posted on 04/09/2009 8:21:44 AM PDT by alloysteel (When the chips are down - the buffalo is empty.)
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To: rightwinggoth
When you have HALF of Americans dependent on the government for their livelihood, HALF of Americans employed by the government and HALF of Americans who pay NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX; why should anyone be surprised.

Who says “Communism is dead!”

5 posted on 04/09/2009 8:21:48 AM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: rightwinggoth

That’s the reason we have “o” in our White House!


6 posted on 04/09/2009 8:22:19 AM PDT by LadyPilgrim ((Lifted up was He to die; It is finished was His cry; Hallelujah what a Savior!!!!!! ))
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To: rightwinggoth

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism,37% have brains the rest are brain dead.


7 posted on 04/09/2009 8:22:39 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: rightwinggoth
Proving once again that nearly 50% of "Americans" are ignorant or indoctrinated by Government Pubic Schools... (spelling intentional)

Clearly - these folks should be denied the vote in matters that effect the Republic.

8 posted on 04/09/2009 8:22:46 AM PDT by river rat (Semper Fi - You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: rightwinggoth

I think more people know about socialism than we know and don’t like it. As people actually see how it will effect them, as in our government, they will turn against it. Education is the key.


9 posted on 04/09/2009 8:22:48 AM PDT by RC2
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To: KansasGirl
My God. This is what we are up against. The 27% who didn’t know, probably didn’t know the difference.

Or who are just annoyed by pollsters. Idunno is usually the quickest answer to get through a poll when one sneaks through.

10 posted on 04/09/2009 8:23:36 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (No free man bows to a foreign king.)
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To: rightwinggoth
Folks, we are failing. We can't blame anyone but ourselves for not educating everyone around us as much as possible about the virtues of capitalism and how the individual can achieve his dreams through the capitalistic system. I am just as guilty. We really need to refocus on this.

Capitalism demands the best of every man – his rationality – and rewards him accordingly. It leaves every man free to choose the work he likes, to specialize in it, to trade his product for the products of others, and to go as far on the road of achievement as his ability and ambition will carry him. - Ayn Rand

11 posted on 04/09/2009 8:23:45 AM PDT by mnehring
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To: rightwinggoth

The commies said they would take over through our schools, unions and government. They have done a good job with their commie teachers and professors brainwashing our young.


12 posted on 04/09/2009 8:23:49 AM PDT by Uncle George
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To: Vaduz

Yep, and since Zero and his ilk consider 52% an overwhelming majority, a landslide, a mandate, then he should most assuredly listen to the 53% who say they prefer capitalism....


13 posted on 04/09/2009 8:24:30 AM PDT by Right Cal Gal (Abraham Lincoln would have let Berkeley leave the Union without a fight)
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To: rightwinggoth

As it was with the wage and price freezes, inflation, and micro-mismanagement of Nixon/Ford/Carter, our the pain Obama brings us will be our teacher.


14 posted on 04/09/2009 8:26:02 AM PDT by flowerplough (52% of us with incomes over $200k voted for Obama and 60% of those earning under $30K did, too.)
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To: rightwinggoth

Not terribly surprising. Nobody really likes capitalism during a recession, not that socialism is any better but we are living in that part of the cycle where even Adam Smith would admit capitalism can suck sometimes. Ask the question 10 years ago before the .com meltdown when capitalism was all wine and roses and you’ll get closer to 80%.


15 posted on 04/09/2009 8:26:21 AM PDT by razorboy
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To: rightwinggoth

I would be curious to see the results if the term “Free Enterprise” was used instead of “Capitalism”.


16 posted on 04/09/2009 8:26:23 AM PDT by Carl LaFong (Experts say experts should be ignored.)
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To: rightwinggoth
It is interesting to compare the new results to an earlier survey in which 70% of Americans prefer a free-market economy. The fact that a “free-market economy” attracts substantially more support than “capitalism” may suggest some skepticism about whether capitalism in the United States today relies on free markets.

Or, it may suggest a successful propaganda campaign by the socialists in the MSM and the National Education Association. Don't worry -- free markets are next on the hit list.

17 posted on 04/09/2009 8:26:57 AM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative (Two blogs for the price of none!)
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To: rightwinggoth

Ignorance, ignorance and ignorance. For nearly a century, the left has done everything in its power to create ignorant citizens and voters. A group of 60 years olds going back to high school today would be stunned at the subject matter taught to kids. Useless, trivial, misrepresented, distorted, history rewritten until unrecognizable. Four years of moral equivalence and America bashing.


18 posted on 04/09/2009 8:27:41 AM PDT by Oldpuppymax (AGENDA OF THE LEFT EXPOSED)
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To: alloysteel

1963 Congressional record on Communist Goals in America

“#17) Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for Socialism, and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers associations. Put the party line in text books.”

See this site for the rest.....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/651116/posts


19 posted on 04/09/2009 8:28:27 AM PDT by dianed
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To: rightwinggoth
The over-40s (like me) are old enough to have witnessed first-hand the consequential differences between capitalism and socialism.
20 posted on 04/09/2009 8:28:41 AM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative (Two blogs for the price of none!)
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To: rightwinggoth

And 47% don’t know what socialism is!


21 posted on 04/09/2009 8:28:47 AM PDT by LiteKeeper (When do the impeachment proceedings begin?)
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To: rightwinggoth

>> Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism. [...] 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better.

We have not done a good enough job selling conservatism to that undecided 27%. Obama may end up doing the job for us, however.

SnakeDoc


22 posted on 04/09/2009 8:29:49 AM PDT by SnakeDoctor ("The night is darkest just before the dawn -- but ... the dawn is coming." -- Harvey Dent)
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To: Harrius Magnus; mojitojoe; Pelham; mom2twinsn2; LongLiveTheRepublic; ConservativeOrBust; ...
The Peter Schiff/Redistribution Watch Ping. (Washington Bankrupting our Nation by Spending your past, present and future money!)

As bad as this is ,it's understandable. Who has been representing capitalism? Talk radio? But they promoted GWB as THE tax cutting conservative icon of our times(until recently for some.) This is what happens when your leader doesn't believe in what he is representing, disaster. So much for 'lesser of two evils' argument pushed by the Hannitys.

23 posted on 04/09/2009 8:29:53 AM PDT by sickoflibs (RNC Party Theme : "We may be socialists, but they are Marxists!")
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative

The internals show that it’s mostly the under 30’s that favor socialism.

I credit this not only to indoctrination, but to human nature. The see what older people have at their disposal (because they paid their dues) and want it, desire it, envy it, without paying the dues necessary to acquire it.


24 posted on 04/09/2009 8:30:23 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, Bowman later)
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To: qam1; ItsOurTimeNow; PresbyRev; Fraulein; StoneColdGOP; Clemenza; m18436572; InShanghai; xrp; ...

Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.  

25 posted on 04/09/2009 8:31:24 AM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: rightwinggoth
What do you expect, they have been taught throughout the public schools (indoctrination centers) that Capitalism is bad.

Why expect a different answer unless you went through the same reeducation camps.

26 posted on 04/09/2009 8:31:47 AM PDT by BillT (New Executive Order to abolish the WS Constitution to be signed to save the US Constitution)
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To: mnehring

See #23

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2225631/posts?page=23#23


27 posted on 04/09/2009 8:31:48 AM PDT by sickoflibs (RNC Party Theme : "We may be socialists, but they are Marxists!")
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To: rightwinggoth

That’s it folks. U.S. is done. Pack your bags.


28 posted on 04/09/2009 8:35:47 AM PDT by quesney
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To: sickoflibs

All well and good, but that still puts the onus of responsibility on someone else. We need to grab a mirror to look for the solution before we grab the binoculars.

Remember the parable of the toad and the scorpion? A politician will act like a politician, it is their nature. IMHO, we started failing when Conservatives started looking for someone to say “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” about our own pet issues. We stopped finding our own solutions.

If we started living self dependent, capitalistic lives and taught everyone around us the same, this would dis-empower the government’s control. People would vote for the politician who would best get out of their way, not the politician who promised more government solutions (even if they sound Conservative.)


29 posted on 04/09/2009 8:37:04 AM PDT by mnehring
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To: qam1

Has anyone checked if there’s flooding in Simi Valley, CA right now? Surely President Reagan is weeping.


30 posted on 04/09/2009 8:37:19 AM PDT by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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To: rightwinggoth

they’ve been at this for nearly a century—the progessive movement of woodrow wilson forward.

they’ve undermined urban public schools; universities; city, county, state and federal government; the media; corporations; the rockefeller and ford foundations; even some churches...


31 posted on 04/09/2009 8:39:06 AM PDT by ken21 (the only thing we have to fear is fdr deja vu.)
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To: rightwinggoth
Just 53% of Americans Say Capitalism Better Than Socialism

Not sure I believe this stat, but if true, then we are truly doomed as a nation.

32 posted on 04/09/2009 8:40:27 AM PDT by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: rightwinggoth
This is actually an improvement. A national poll taken early last Novemebr showed about 53% voted for Obama favored socialism over freedom.
33 posted on 04/09/2009 8:42:34 AM PDT by bobjam
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To: rightwinggoth

Wow! That’s amazing. Maybe that explains why calling O a socialist didn’t hurt him any. We need to think of a more effective label. I think if we call him that in the 2012 he’ll win for sure.


34 posted on 04/09/2009 8:44:11 AM PDT by BobMV (Usurper in Chief)
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To: papasmurf

Ahh, someone that looks at the other side of the coin to make sure it does’nt say for display purposes only. I like the way you think.


35 posted on 04/09/2009 8:44:31 AM PDT by Steel Bill
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To: mnehring; All

Look at some people here.. They seem to hate capitalism..


36 posted on 04/09/2009 8:50:20 AM PDT by KevinDavis (No one should question our "Dear Leader"!)
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To: KansasGirl

And, this is what happens when we put Republicans in high office that spend money like liberals while talking like they’re conservatives.


37 posted on 04/09/2009 8:50:42 AM PDT by SoDak (Molon Labe)
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To: sickoflibs; All
Take a look at the other survey they did.

70% of Americans prefer free markets.

Let's drop the Marxist term - Capitalism - and say what it really is

liberty = free markets.

38 posted on 04/09/2009 8:51:27 AM PDT by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: rightwinggoth

Dear God.


39 posted on 04/09/2009 8:52:58 AM PDT by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet)
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To: rightwinggoth

people don’t know what socialism is. obviously.


40 posted on 04/09/2009 8:53:50 AM PDT by GeronL
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To: rightwinggoth

Well, on April 15th, 2010, less than 50% of American adults will owe a penny in federal income taxes. So for them, they are already living the life of socialism by being parasites sucking on the productive.

Its when those of us who are productive decide to quit and the parasite no longer has a host that they will experience the negative side of socialism.


41 posted on 04/09/2009 8:54:42 AM PDT by Phantom Lord (Fall on to your knees for the Phantom Lord)
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To: mnehring
RE :”If we started living self dependent, capitalistic lives and taught everyone around us the same, this would dis-empower the government’s control. People would vote for the politician who would best get out of their way, not the politician who promised more government solutions (even if they sound Conservative.)

No way! First problem is that you cant live completely capitalistic lives because your money will be taken to give to others that dont. Furthermore the government imposes uncapitistic regulations on you. For example, it could kill your job by requiring your free health care.

Next, socialism is addictive, and it is morally corruptive. Help from government can create a loyalty to government, and a belief that government is the sole solution to any problem, that the government is smart, and people are dumb, or greedy.

Obama failing is our only chance but that might take years.

42 posted on 04/09/2009 8:55:11 AM PDT by sickoflibs (RNC Party Theme : "We may be socialists, but they are Marxists!")
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To: BobMV
We need to think of a more effective label.

"Big Brother" seems to work.

43 posted on 04/09/2009 8:55:41 AM PDT by mnehring
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To: Oldpuppymax

Speaking of the century mark, today is the 100th anniversary of ‘The Progressive Magazine’.

Today’s situation is so much like all the other situations they try to take advantage of. Our job is to not let them have the advantage.


44 posted on 04/09/2009 8:55:56 AM PDT by griswold3 (a good story is more compelling than the search for truth)
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To: rightwinggoth; papertyger
Just 53% of Americans Say Capitalism Better Than Socialism

Some of the remaining respondents even post on FR!

45 posted on 04/09/2009 8:56:07 AM PDT by Travis T. OJustice (I can spell just fine, thanks, it's my typing that sucks.)
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To: rightwinggoth
"Republicans - by an 11-to-1 margin - favor capitalism. Democrats are much more closely divided" This makes sense. Democrats cannot exist without State help every day of their lives.
46 posted on 04/09/2009 8:56:21 AM PDT by NoLibZone (PROUD to be a part of the minority in our current culture. / Obama bows to the ruler of Mecca.)
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To: ken21

“they’ve been at this for nearly a century—the progessive movement of woodrow wilson forward.

they’ve undermined urban public schools; universities; city, county, state and federal government; the media; corporations; the rockefeller and ford foundations; even some churches...”

******************************************************************************

I would argue that it started with “some churches”.

The advocates of the “Social Gospel” were instrumental in turning the civil institutions of society into instuments of state power, and all with the gloss of goodthinking piety.

They are not Communists, not even marxists - they are too sophisticated for those puerile and simplistic delusions. They believe in the ideology of an engrossed sheltering and nurturing state managed by the “best” people, an ideology comprised of equal parts of sanctimony, narcissism, and smug superiority.

“Ingsoc” for our time, in other words.


47 posted on 04/09/2009 8:56:25 AM PDT by headsonpikes (Genocide is the highest sacrament of socialism.)
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To: rightwinggoth
Our problem isn't capitalism or socialism. Our problem is that the political system is broken. Politics is no longer about writing laws, it is simply about spending money.

The basic difference between Democrats and Republicans is not how much they spend (although they do compete on who can spend more) it is merely on what they spend it on. All politicians for their very survival must spend money.

Our only solution that I can see is a constitutional amendment limiting the Governments ability to tax, spend and borrow.

48 posted on 04/09/2009 8:57:18 AM PDT by LeGrande (I once heard a smart man say that you can’t reason someone out of something that they didn’t reaso)
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To: KansasGirl
My God. This is what we are up against. The 27% who didn’t know, probably didn’t know the difference.

I wouldn't be so quick to chalk it up to someone else's ignorance.

How would you answer knowing it makes good business sense to fire the engineer that has worked for the same employer for thirty years when they can get one fresh out of school for half the price?

49 posted on 04/09/2009 8:58:16 AM PDT by papertyger
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To: headsonpikes
"I would argue that it started with “some churches”."

Which Church is the leader of the socialist movement?

50 posted on 04/09/2009 8:59:44 AM PDT by NoLibZone (PROUD to be a part of the minority in our current culture. / Obama bows to the ruler of Mecca.)
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