During a campaign stop in Iowa on Saturday, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) distinguished herself from the likes of rival candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) by proclaiming that she is “not a socialist.”
I’m not trying to upend and blow up systems. I’m not trying to start a revolution. I am not a socialist, okay? So, there you go. But what I do know is this – capitalism assumes that everyone is starting out on the same base, and then people will compete, and the best will rise. Well, in American today, the majority of people aren’t starting out on the same base, and we’ve got to lift people up and in particular working people and working families. So, a large part of my agenda is focused on that.
In Washington, IA @KamalaHarris says “we are at the stage of the campaign where contrasts need to be made.”
“I am not trying to upend and blow up systems. I am not trying to start a revolution. I am not a socialist.”#IACaucus pic.twitter.com/xf4QTb3gqX
— Musadiq Bidar (@Bidar411) November 23, 2019
Harris has been struggling to gain support in the months leading up to the Iowa Democratic caucuses on February 3, 2020.
Following a much ballyhooed confrontation with former Vice President Joe Biden during the first Democratic primary debate in late-June, Harris experienced a sharp rise in national polls. During that brief period of time, Harris became a top-tier candidate.
Over the course of the next two months, however, the senator’s gains were essentially erased. Support for Harris’ candidacy has continued to dwindle ever since. As of publication, Harris sits in fourth place nationally with just 4%, according to the RealClearPolitics national polling average.
In Iowa, Harris is in sixth place (3.3%), behind Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). In New Hampshire, Harris is in tenth place (1.7%), behind Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Andrew Yang, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), and billionaire Tom Steyer.
Even in Harris’ home state of California, she places a distant fourth with just 8% support, according to RCP.
On the other end of the race, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is a loud and proud “democratic socialist.”
During an October interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Sanders differentiated himself from rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), saying: “There are differences between Elizabeth and myself. Elizabeth I think, as you know, has said that she is a capitalist through her bones. I’m not.”
Socialism has gained renewed attention in the United States as Sens. Sanders and Warren, who currently sit second and third place in the national polls, have proposed policies that would allow the federal government to play a much larger role in the everyday lives of American citizens. These policies include Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and student debt relief, among others.
Polling indicates that socialism is at least somewhat popular among younger voters.
According to a September 2019 survey by YouGov/Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, “70% of Millennials say they would be at least somewhat likely to vote for a socialist candidate.”
The survey also notes that “about one-in-five Millennials (22%) believe that ‘society would be better if all private property was abolished,’ compared to 1% of the Silent Generation.”
Gallup reports that from 2010 to 2018, the percentage of Democrats with a “positive view of socialism” has increased by 4% (53% to 57%).
“Americans aged 18 to 29 are as positive about socialism (51%) as they are about capitalism (45%). This represents a 12-point decline in young adults’ positive views of capitalism in just the past two years and a marked shift since 2010, when 68% viewed it positively. Meanwhile, young people’s views of socialism have fluctuated somewhat from year to year, but the 51% with a positive view today is the same as in 2010,” according to Gallup.