By Tom Donelson, Americas Majority Foundation and Frontier of Freedom
Contribution by JD Johannes, Vcreek
Original 2019 study
In 2019 we conducted a study looking how Republican, Independents and Democrats viewed Capitalism and Socialism with the goal to understand the prism through which they view both Socialism and Capitalism. We found that Republican and Democrat often held both positive views of Socialism and Capitalism simultaneously. Since then, we have conducted similar surveys in one southern and three Midwest states and found changes within the different groups we studied.
On socialism, we asked “When you hear or read the term ‘socialism’, do you think of Scandinavian Social Democracies like Denmark and Sweden OR Venezuela, North Korea and the Former Soviet Union.” On Capitalism, we asked, “When you hear or read the phrase ‘free market capitalism do you think…It is an economic system that allows people to pursue their passions and create their own careers and businesses, or do you think It is an economic system where those at the top benefit at the expense of the rest.” 15
Highly visible factions of the Democratic Party have moved sharply to the left and many are now openly socialists and Bernie Sanders is not the only one willing to admit his socialistic views. Many of the Democratic proposals are even more to the left than what many Scandinavian politicians would propose.
Many Republicans and quite a few Independents viewed socialism as a failed economic system. A key feature of the 2026-2028 elections may be how Americans view socialism and capitalism. If Americans decide the values that undergird the Scandinavian view of social democracy as the path they want, the Democrats will win, and many Americans do view Capitalism as a system that benefit those at the top and not those below the 1%.
In a report for Americas Majority Foundation, we wrote, “The U.S. is still a country where wealth and income earned through hard work and personal risk taking is respected. Our national survey in 2014 found interesting dynamics. 71% of Blacks, 79% of Whites and 66% of Hispanics believe that hard work is still rewarded but when asked if the economic system rigged against the Middle Class, we see the results reverse. 71% of Blacks, 65% of Whites and 61% of Hispanics believe the economic system is rigged. In a survey among Michigan voters in August of 2016, two of every three voters viewed the system rigged against the Middle Class with two/thirds of White and Black voters along with 55% of Hispanic voters viewing the system as being rigged against Middle Class. Even with that cynicism, four out of five Michigan voters believe that to increase economic opportunity and a fair opportunity to succeed, you must grow the private sector, which is the position taken by Republican candidate Donald Trump, the first Republican who won Michigan since 1988.”2
The American are of mixed mind on whether this country is a country where hard work is rewarded and whether the system is rigged. And Americans often held both positive views of Socialism and Capitalism simultaneously. Both may be related.
In our original study, when we studied 18-65-year-olds, we found that overall voters view socialism closer to Nordic countries as opposed to Venezuela by a 52% to 48%. 67% of Democrats viewed socialism as similar to Nordic country compared to 38% of Republicans. 51% of Independents view socialism similarly to Nordic countries compared to 49% who viewed socialism as a worst-case disaster. It was not surprising that Republicans view Socialism more negatively but nearly 40% of Republicans didn’t view socialism as bad thing and slight majority of Independents also viewed socialism the equal of a robust welfare state.2
We identified four different groups, Nordic capitalists, of which these voters viewed Nordic countries as socialism and seek a more robust welfare state to protect them in particular on health care, but they had a positive view of free markets. Market believers believed in free markets and viewed socialism as Venezuela, Cuba or North Korea. Socialist sympathizers are Democratic for Socialist of America (DSA) and populist capitalist are pessimistic capitalist, they hate socialism as much as free marketers, but they view capitalist as protecting the one percent. Many of these voters are Trump supporters.
When we looked at age, we found that the only group to oppose the idea that Socialism was nothing more than robust Scandinavian style welfare state was voters 55 to 65%. 59% of voters 55-65 view Socialism as the path to Venezuela similar to what we saw with our Senior voters.
Black and Asian voters in this survey viewed Socialism similar to Nordic countries and White voters by a slight margin agreed and only Hispanics viewed Socialism as Venezuela.
In Study How Political Party View Capitalism.
We asked voters about free markets: It is an economic system that allows people to pursue their passions and create their own career and businesses” Or do you think “It is an economic system where the top benefit at the expense at the rest.”
Overall, 53% of voters viewed free markets as benefiting the rich while 48% of voters viewed free markets as allowing individuals to pursue their dream. As you would suspect 64% of Democrats view free market benefitting the wealthy while 69 percent of Republicans view fee markets a liberating force hat allows them to pursue their deal. 51% of Independents agree with Democrats that free market benefit to top 1% and 40% agree with Republicans on the benefit of the free markets in pursuing their dream.15
Interesting 54% of younger voters 18-34 allowed them to pursue their dreams and passion whereas 52 % of 35 to 44 and 51% of 55-65 view free markets as benefitting the wealth while 58% of 45 o 54 like their 18-34 counterparts viewed capitalism as allowing the pursuit of the American dream. Interesting 55 to 65 viewed Socialism as going the path of Venezuela, but they were not as supportive free markets as allowing one to pursue their dream.15
Among different races 65% of Blacks, 56% of Hispanics, 54% of Asians viewed free markets as supporting the 1% as opposed to allowing one to pursue their dreams. Minorities were less likely to view free markets as allowing one to pursue their dreams. Minorities were less likely to view free markets as allowing them to pursue their passion and more likely to view Free Markets as aiding the 1%.
A Shift in the quadrants?
Overall, in our national survey in 2019 we saw 27 percent were Nordic capitalist, 25 percent free market supporters, 24 percent were DSA sympathizers and 24 percent were pessimistic capitalist.
Since 2023, we have done this survey in four states: Louisiana 2023, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin in 2026. We saw significant changes with number of Nordic capitalist and pessimistic capitalist dropping and the rise in Free marketers and DSA sympathizers.
23 percent of Iowans, 22 percent of Minnesota and 23 percent of Wisconsin are Nordic capitalists.
37 percent of Iowans, 39 percent of Minnesota and 35 percent of Wisconsin are believers in Free market and capitalism.
24 percent of Iowans, 25 percent of Minnesotans and 28 percent of Wisconsin voters are DSA supporters
16 percent of Iowans, 13 percent of Minnesota voters and 14 percent of Wisconsin voters are pessimistic populists.
Now we did a survey very similar to this in Louisiana in 2023 which we saw 19 percent were Nordic capitalist, 42 percent were free market capitalist, 19 percent were DSA lovers and 20 percent were pessimistic populists.
These represent four states, one very red Louisiana, three Midwest states: Iowa which has been trending red for past decade, but this year may end up light red to purple, Wisconsin is light blue and Minnesota has a reputation of being very blue, but when you look at the state legislature, they are essentially tied. 16
There have been upticks in DSA lovers and decline in pessimistic populists and Nordic capitalist. Could this decline in Nordic capitalist may represent a movement toward DSA?
Below chart shows the four states versus the national average in 2019.
Are these states anomalies and what if we added hard core blue states like California and New York as well as big red states like Florida and Texas, would we get a similar results or would it be closer to the original? My own theory is that California and New York are moving more toward DSA sympathizers and away from Nordic Capitalist model whereas Florida is moving closer to free market, but what is unknown is the number of pessimistic populists. We should point out that the four states we reviewed is not the same as a national survey and an updated study is required.
In the original study, 52 percent believed in free market allowing you to pursue your dreams when you combined both Nordic capitalist and Free market capitalist. In that number is 60 percent, 61 percent in Minnesota, 58 percent in Wisconsin 61 percent in Louisiana.
Many Americans are of two minds. They think that hard work is still rewarded and support the proven principles of productive work, delayed gratification and personal responsibility and they also fear a trend toward system is rigged against them. A system where the proven principles are not enough. While they respect the entrepreneurs who start up their companies, they have less respect for executives who manage long-established companies. The heart of the complaint is executives who are paid millions while seemingly running former power-house companies into the ground. Visible examples include General Electric and JC Penney. A more sophisticated version of the complaint is increase stock valuations through buy backs.
This entrepreneur/manager divide is part of the explanation on whether a person sees it as a system that allows people to pursue their passions or a system where only the top benefit. If they see a manager-stock-trader economy, they will likely think of it as a rigged system where only the top benefit. If they see an entrepreneur economy, they are more likely to think in terms of pursuing passions. Elon Musk is the most recent example of the entrepreneur and Tim Cook of Apple is the example of the manager.
What is Nordic Capitalism?
The conservative coalition must define what Socialism really is and that Socialism is NOT Nordic Capitalism.
Warren, Sanders, “The Squad” and the media are selling Denmark/Sweden, but their policies are not Nordic Capitalism. Occasionally the truth slips out.
Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff of Alexandra Cortez (and her political guru) and later a congressional candidate in California, stated about the Green New Deal, ““The interesting thing about the Green New Deal…it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all… Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.” Cortez and her ilk are interested in complete transformation of our economy and society in general into a socialist paradise, far beyond anything that would pass muster in the Nordic countries.9
Bernie Sanders admits he is a socialist and many of his opponents voting records are not much different than his nor are their proposals significantly different than what he is proposing. In fact, what Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and others on the Socialist Left are proposing start to mirror the populist, anti-free-market agenda of France’s Marine Le Pen as well much of the hard left in Europe including the modern-day British Labour Party.
In Tom Donelson’s report “From Trump to Le Pen, Where Does Populism Ends Up?” Mr. Donelson said, “France is where the future of the populist movement may lie if Trump fails to move his agenda and improve the lot of American workers. Marine Le Pen is not a traditional American conservative or even a believer in free market. Many of Le Pen’s views mirror the hard-core left, embodied by Jean-Luc Melenchon, including her promise to maintain the 35-hour work week and lowering the retirement age to 60. (The two combined actually collected 42% of the vote in first round voting showing political strength in 2017 French elections.)”10
Marine Le Pen is a warning to American conservatives that the populism of people who think Capitalism is a system where only the top benefit could easily turn left. Elizabeth Warren’s economic plan is Leftwing populism similar to what Le Pen is selling the French voters. In that regard, Elizabeth Warren is the Marine Le Pen of American politics. Instead of educating voters on what Socialism really is, it may be easier to show what Nordic country do spend more on social Welfare State, but their economy is dependent upon not killing the golden goose that support the system, the private sector.
JP Morgan Michael Cembalest observed “With Nordic countries firmly rooted in capitalism and free markets, if I wanted to find examples of democratic socialism in practice, I’d have to look elsewhere. I broadened my search and looked for countries that, relative to the US, are characterized by:
• Higher personal and corporate tax rates, and higher government spending
• More worker protections restricting the ability of companies to hire and fire, and less flexibility for companies to set wages based on worker productivity and/or to hire foreign labor
• More reliance on regulation, more constraints on real estate development, more anti-trust enforcement and more state intervention in product markets; and a shift away from a shareholder-centric business model
• More protections for workers and domestic industries through tariff and non-tariff barriers, and more constraints on capital inflows and outflows.
I couldn’t find any country that ticked all these democratic socialist boxes, but I did find one that came close: Argentina, which has defaulted 7 times since its independence in 1816, which has seen the largest relative standard of living decline in the world since 1900, and which is on the brink of political and economic chaos again in 2019.”11, 12 (emphasis added)
The Democrat economic model is closer to Argentina, a country that since the days of Juan Peron, was model on a fascism than a free market model. At the turn of the twentieth century, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world, but it has slipped behind other nations. Many on the Left for years cheered on the Hugo Chavez-Nicholas Maduro Venezuela model and Bernie Sanders on his own website quoted an editorial that stated the following, “These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina, where incomes are actually more equal today than they are in the land of Horatio Alger. Who’s the banana republic now?” 10 David Sirota, Bernie Sanders Communications Director wrote in 2013, “Chavez racked up an economic record that a legacy-obsessed American president could only dream of achieving. the Venezuelan socialism “suddenly looks like a threat to the corporate capitalism, especially when said country has valuable oil resources that global powerhouses like the United States rely on.”11
The previous Argentina model pre-Mieli is a far cry from Nordic Capitalism but like Venezuelan Socialism failed miserably with economy suffering triple digit inflation and two out of every five living in poverty, barely surviving. The election of free market Mieli was an act of desperation on part of the Argentina voter after triple digit inflation and 40 percent living below the poverty line.
While Sanders today has backpedaled on his support for Venezuela and claims that this is not the ideal Democratic Socialist state, he envisioned now that Venezuela economy collapsed. That was not the case just a few years ago. Look at the economic plans of Democrats and their own models are closer to Venezuela than Denmark. (It will be interesting what will happen to Venezuela when the remnants of Maduro regime is finally replaced.)
The real problem is that Republicans must face a significant reality, many Americans, maybe even half of America view socialism as “Denmark/Sweden” Bernie Sanders, Alexandra Cortez or even Elizabeth Warren describes their policies as Denmark/Sweden when their policies are actually closer to Venezuela or, at best, Argentina. A decade ago, Sanders viewed Chavez-Maduro model as his own. Note that the Chavez-Maduro model does not have space for free speech or any freedom that stands in the way of Socialism. In Democratic socialism, Democratic part is expendable.
Beyond the perceptions of “Socialism” and “Capitalism” there is agreement on the fundamental proven principles of hard work and personal responsibility.
VCreek/AMG asked respondents, “To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement ‘hard work, delayed gratification and taking personal responsibility are important to make our society work.’”
A topline 88% strongly or somewhat agree the proven principles “are important to make our society work.” Among respondents who answered “Denmark/Sweden” 42% strongly agreed the proven principles are important. Even 39% of the “Socialist Sympathizers” strongly agree!
As indicated by the poll results, the proven principles are taken as a given by the average reasonable voter. What these voters do not necessarily understand is that the proven principles are being attacked by the extremes of the progressive left that makes up the base of “Socialist Sympathizers.”
In one visible example University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Amy Wax was vilified by progressives for an op-ed that argued that the proven principles work for individuals, the economy and society.3 4
Wax wrote, “That culture laid out the script we all were supposed to follow: Get married before you have children and strive to stay married for their sake. Get the education you need for gainful employment, work hard, and avoid idleness. Go the extra mile for your employer or client. Be a patriot, ready to serve the country. Be neighborly, civic-minded, and charitable. Avoid coarse language in public. Be respectful of authority. Eschew substance abuse and crime. These basic cultural precepts reigned from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. They could be followed by people of all backgrounds and abilities, especially when backed up by almost universal endorsement. Adherence was a major contributor to the productivity, educational gains, and social coherence of that period.”3 4
The DSA has challenged the idea of the ideal way to success and replace it with a government dictated regimen.
Politics Recommendations.
In reviewing the data, we need to emphasize the following:
1.Markets works and many of our problems are not market driven but policies that are ignored the market. Jon Turley noted, “The worse it gets, the better it is: American leftism is thriving on its own failures, From immigration to taxes to health care, politicians are playing to their past fiascos to push an even more radical agenda.” 17
2. Health care is classic example as Obamacare is responsible for much of the rising cost of health care and now the argument on the left is Medicare for All. As Turley noted, “The same is true on public health policy. Remember when Obamacare was going to reduce health care costs and improve health care options? While insisting that they did not want government-run single-payer healthcare, Democrats promised that Obamacare would lower costs while allowing you to keep your own doctor and health care plan. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised his plan would “lower your premiums by up to $2,500 per family per year… By that measure, Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, is a colossal failure. Premiums have nearly tripled since the law took effect, and deductibles have more than doubled. “The cost of coverage for a family of four has increased by more than $10,000,” according to studies…In 2026 alone, median premiums increased by 20 percent, and that has already risen by another 15 percent in 2027. Meanwhile, enrollments continue to plummet across the country.” Over the past year, Trump administration has seen lower drug prices and does have a plan to lower overall health care while putting patients more in control of their health care. (The latter is rarely talked about but should be more since it is the best plan out there.) 17
In Canada, 5.5 percent of deaths are related to government assisted suicide and the MAID (Medical Assistance In Suicide) program will be expanded to mental health issues in 2027. Billions can be saved through MAID as one report for the government concluded, “Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Office put out a report estimating that $86.9 million was saved through the MAiD system, as an alternative to palliative care.”18 While Canada will not view their MAID program as a death panel, there is no doubt that program will save billions by encouraging patients to go this route. Medicare for All may end up with government rationing health care with their own version of MAID. Illinois already adopted their version of MAID in 2026.
3. The border has been shut down, and we have seen as benefits, reduced drugs crossing the borders along with criminals and we have seen the biggest drop in violent crime. Turley noted, “We now know the open border was a choice. The Trump administration immediately stopped crossings using the same laws Biden had refused to enforce. As expected, Democrats are expressing horror at the thought that the government would try to deport the millions that they allowed and even encouraged to enter the country.” The left proposal is reopen the border and repeat what Biden administration has done. 17
4. In many blue states and blue cities, we have seen poor education, less housing affordability and solutions guarantee to increase housing cost even higher while reducing housing for Middle class to afford like rent control. Most recent study showed that energy costs are higher in Democratic run states due to various climate mandates. The biggest failures has been in blue states where in California, gas prices and energy prices exceed the national average even with the recent rise of energy prices due to Iran conflict.
We have seen reduction in government workers and shifts to more employment moving toward to more productive endeavors. These are in jeopardy and we have a potential financial crisis in the offering caused by overspending and Covid spending exacerbated the problem, and the left will love nothing more than see a collapsed economy.
Finally, it is time to review the Cloward–Piven strategy which Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven in their article “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty,” called for the mobilizing low-income individuals for public assistance to vastly increase welfare rolls and creating a both an Administrative and budget crisis with the goal of federal guaranteed annual income to replace the fragmented state level program, much of it in existence today.
The left has continued this strategy in different ways including the recent opening of the border during the Biden years. The goal was to flood United States with immigrants and change the complexion of the population as well as trap as many of the new illegal on welfare. The ultimate goal was to push citizenship for the illegals, and the left has made it clear that assimilation is not their goal but balkanization. Milton Friedman warned that massive immigration and expanding welfare state are incompatible and the failure of assimilation that is occurring is being done purposely. During the Biden years, there were at least two illegal immigrants coming into this country than legal immigrants and this was unsustainable.
Obamacare may not have been designed as health care plan to increase cost but if you wanted to create a system that purposedly increase cost and make the healthcare system more cumbersome, you could not designed a better system than Obamacare and now that Obamacare has failed in its original mission, the new goal is Medicare for all, a complete government takeover of health care.
Cloward-Piven strategy is still in place, and the goal of the left is to expand the power of government and at this moment, we are seeing the rise of the support of socialism among the younger voters and the Democratic Party which is now the Democratic socialist Party of America. However, we must understand how voters view socialism and as our data has shown, many voters view socialism as extension of Nordic Capitalism, and what they are looking for is more robust welfare state to provide a floor. The one issue that most voters state is important is availability and affordability of healthcare. It is important for Republicans and conservative to understand that many voters view Free markets as a path to their pursuit of excellence in their live while simultaneously favoring a Nordic capitalist state. Based on our original 2019 study and recent surveys in Midwestern states, we estimate that one out of every four to five voters are Nordic capitalists and that one out of every three to four voters are free market supporters.
What is needed is broader base proposals that will attract Nordic capitalist and free market advocates while stopping the momentum of Democratic socialist movement. Our data shows there is path to doing that.
Endnotes:
1. From Trump to Le Pen, Where does Populism Ends up Americas Majority Foundation, August 2018
2. Poll provided by VCreek/AMG, for Americas Majority Foundation May 2019.
3. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/opinion/commentary/paying-the-price-for-breakdown-of-the-countrys-bourgeois-culture-20170809.html
4. https://www.thedp.com/article/2017/08/guest-column-by-33-penn-law-faculty-members-open-letter-to-the-university-of-pennsylvania-community
5. https://www.people-press.org/2019/01/24/publics-2019-priorities-economy-health-care-education-and-security-all-near-top-of-list/
6. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/business/sweden-economy-immigration.html
7. Data from VCreek/AMG Evolving Strategies and Cygnal for Americas Majority Foundation May 2019,
8. Politics of Retirement a Report on Voters Age 50 + by Tom Donelson, JD Johannes, and Clara Del Villar, Americas Majority Foundation
9. AOC chief Admits the Real Goal of the Green New Deal, It wasn’t Climate Change by Alex Parker July 12, 2019. https://www.redstate.com/alexparker/2019/07/12/aocs-chief-staff-admits-real-goal-green-new-deal-wasnt-fighting-climate-change/
10. From Trump to Le Pen, Where does Populism Ends up Americas Majority Foundation, August 2018
11. Eye on the Market by Michael Cembalest JP Morgan June 2019
12. Eye on the Market by Michael Cembalest JP Morgan June 2019
13. Bernie Sanders Website, August 5 2011 https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/must-read/close-the-gaps-disparities-that-threaten-america
14. Daily Caller March 19, 2019 https://dailycaller.com/2019/03/19/sanders-speechwriter-sirota-lauded-venezuelan-socialism/
15. Nordic Capitalism, Venezuela Socialism and Voters perceptions
16. Polls by Vcreek in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota 2026, Louisiana 2023 for Americas PAC
17. The worse it gets, the better it is: American leftism is thriving on its own failures Jon Turley The Hill April 16, 2026
18. The Daily Mail September 26th My mum wasn’t terminally ill – she needed help… We had 48 hours to stop Canada’s assisted-dying system but failed and days later she was given a lethal injection