Most Under-40 Voters Favor Socialism

Support for socialist policies and socialist candidates is now a majority position among younger voters in America.

A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and StoppingSocialism.com finds that 53% of Likely U.S. Voters ages 18 to 39 would like to see a democratic socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election. Twenty-seven percent (27%) of under-40 voters would not want to see a democratic socialist elected president in 2028, and 20% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

Under-40 voters were asked to agree or disagree with this statement: “Major Industries like health care, energy, and big tech should be nationalized to give more control and equity to the people.” Seventy-six percent (76%) agree, including 39% who Strongly Agree. Just 18% disagree.

“This survey clearly shows that due largely to economic challenges, young Americans are increasingly turning to socialist candidates and radical collectivist policies,” said Justin Haskins, senior fellow at The Heartland Institute and the primary author of the poll. “The fact that three-quarters of voters aged 18-39 support nationalizing major industries is an incredibly disturbing trend that must be taken seriously. Clearly, socialism is once again on the rise in the United States.”

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The survey of 1,201 U.S. Likely Voters ages 18 to 39 was conducted on August 26-27, 2025 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Among under-40 voters who would like to see a democratic socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election, 31% say the biggest reason for wanting a socialist president is that housing costs are too high. Seventeen percent (17%) say it’s because the economy unfairly benefits older, wealthier Americans, and15% say the economy unfairly benefits large corporations. Twelve percent (12%) want a socialist president because taxes are too low for corporations, and 11% say taxes are too low for wealthy individuals.

Despite the fact that a majority of voters under 40 embrace socialism, their preferences among Democratic presidential candidates are somewhat more mainstream. If the Democratic Party's presidential primaries were held today, 36% would vote for former Vice President Kamala Harris while 16% prefer Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Third place is a tie between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez, both with nine percent (9%), while four percent (4%) say they’d vote for Zohran Mamdani, who is currently the leading candidate for mayor of New York City.

Among other findings of the Rasmussen Reports/StoppingSocialism.com survey of under-40 Likely Voters:

– Forty-four percent (44%) approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president, including 22% who Strongly Approve. Fifty percent (50%) disapprove of Trump’s performance, including 37% who Strongly Disapprove.

– Forty-five percent (45%) voted for Harris in last year’s presidential election, while 41% voted for Trump, seven percent (7%) voted for third-party candidates and six percent (6%) did not vote.

– Among those who voted for Trump last year, 84% approve of the job he’s doing as president, while Trump gets a 79% disapproval from Harris voters.
– Twenty-eight percent (28%) believe the United States is a fundamentally good country, 17% think America is fundamentally evil, and 50% say the U.S. is a morally mixed country.

– Significantly more men (36%) than women voters (20%) under 40 believe America is fundamentally good, but there is only a slight difference in the number of men (54%) and women voters (51%) under 40 who would want to see a democratic socialist elected president in 2028.

– Forty-eight percent (48%) of whites, 64% of black voters, 62% of Hispanics and 52% of other minority voters under 40 want a democratic socialist candidate to win in 2028. Black voters show the strongest preference for Harris to win the 2028 Democratic Party primary. Hispanics are most likely to favor nationalizing major industries.

– As voters age, they tend more toward supporting Trump. Fifty-one percent (51%) of those ages 18 to 24 voted for Harris, and 57% disapprove of Trump’s job performance as president. Among those ages 35-39, by contrast, 50% voted for Trump and 52% approve of the job he’s doing as president.

StoppingSocialism.com was founded in 2018 as a project of the Heartland Institute, a national nonprofit organization founded in 1984 and headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

In the aftermath of last week’s shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, more voters see a need for new gun control laws.

By a 10-point margin, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to believe that their own party’s members of Congress agree with them. 

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to the public as well as to Platinum Members.

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