A recent Barna Group scientific poll asked Americans if they thought Jesus would prefer socialism or capitalism and who he’d endorse as president. According to many Americans – particularly millennials – Jesus is a socialist “feelin’ the Bern.”
The poll, sponsored by the makers of the film The Young Messiah, found that more people thought Jesus would endorse government-enforced redistribution of wealth over capitalism and that (agnostic?) Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders would be his presidential pick over the other available options.
While socialism (24 percent) beat out capitalism (14 percent) as the system that respondents said more closely aligned with the teachings of Jesus, a majority, the other 62 percent, responded “neither” or “not sure.”
When asked about who would get Jesus’ vote, the survey got similar results. A majority (59 percent) either said none of the candidates (37 percent) or “not sure” (22 percent). Sanders (22 percent) got the most votes out of the candidates, with since-dropped, evangelical Christian Ted Cruz (11 percent) getting second, Hillary Clinton coming in third (9 percent), and Donald Trump last (6 percent).
“When broken down by various demographics, millennials were the group that most often compared socialism and Sanders to Jesus Christ, and college graduates, non-Christians and those who were never married weren’t far behind,” notes The Hollywood Reporter.
The poll’s results align with other studies that have found millennials to be more likely to prefer socialism to capitalism. According to one recent survey, 43 percent of the 30 and under crowd held a positive view of socialism, while less than a third viewed capitalism favorably.
The poll is part of a marketing push ahead of the June DVD release of the fictional film based on Anne Rice’s book Christ The Lord: Out of Egypt. The film has made $6.5 million so far in the theaters. Here’s the trailer: