Washington Post data analyst David Byler said in an interview that aired Thursday on “What America’s Thinking” that younger Americans tend to have a different perception of socialism because they have no memory of the Cold War.
“You are seeing some younger voters who are a little less happy about capitalism and more open to socialism than older generations,” Byler told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons on Wednesday.
“Intuitively that sort of makes sense,” he continued. “People who are younger have no memory of the Cold War, and sort of associate [socialism] more with Sweden than they do the USSR.”
Republicans, including President Trump, have used the term “socialist” to go after Democratic lawmakers such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and target more progressive ideas like the Green New Deal.
Byler said that Republicans are likely to continue labeling Democrats as socialists because they realize the label is not overly popular with the American electorate as a whole.
“But if you’re looking at the full electorate, the socialist label is something that Republicans are going to use to their advantage because it’s not a popular label,” Byler said.
— Julia Manchester
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