53% of likely voters aged 18-39 said they would “like to see a democratic socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election.”
76% said they “somewhat” or “strongly” agree that “Major Industries like health care, energy, and big tech should be nationalized to give more control and equity to the people.”
SCHAUMBURG, IL (September 4, 2025) – A new poll by StoppingSocialism.com, a project of The Heartland Institute, and Rasmussen Reports found that support for radical socialist policies and candidates appears high among likely voters under the age of 40. According to the results of the survey, more than half of young American voters say they want a socialist candidate to win the 2028 presidential election, including a shocking 35% of respondents who said they voted for Donald Trump in 2024.
Additionally, 76% of respondents said they “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” that “Major Industries like health care, energy, and big tech should be nationalized to give more control and equity to the people,” suggesting that increasingly more young American voters favor radical socialist policies.
The survey included 1,201 likely voters aged 18-39. It was completed on August 27, 2025.
See the poll questions and the crosstabs here .
Half of the respondents to the survey also said that America is a “morally mixed country,” while 28% said the United States is “fundamentally good” and 17% said “fundamentally evil.”
Although more than half of respondents (53%) said they would like to see a socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election, support among respondents for the most socialistic Democratic Party candidates remained lower than more establishment candidates. When asked who respondents would most likely vote for in a Democratic Party primary, Kamala Harris (36%) received the most support, followed by Bernie Sanders (16%), Gavin Newsom (9%), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (9%), and Zohran Mamdani (4%).
To those who said they would like to see a democratic socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election, we also asked, “Among the following options, which best describes the biggest reason you would like to see a democratic socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election?” The respondents were then provided with eight options. Of the options provided, the one that was selected most often was “Housing costs are too high” (31%), followed by “The economy unfairly benefits older, wealthier Americans” (17%) and “The economy unfairly benefits large corporations” (15%). This appears to suggest that support for a socialist president is tied to a belief that America’s economy skews toward wealthier individuals and large corporations.
StoppingSocialism.com was founded in 2018 and has since become one of The Heartland Institute’s most impactful projects. The website is dedicated to informing Americans about the dangers of socialism and communism using history, original research, and philosophy. Heartland is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1984 and headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems.
The poll has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. See the full results of the poll below, including some of the key data from the crosstabs.
The following quotes, provided by Heartland Institute experts, can be used for attribution:
“This survey clearly shows that due largely to economic challenges, young Americans are increasingly turning to socialist candidates and radical collectivist policies. 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.”
Justin Haskins
Vice President
The Heartland Institute
Senior Fellow
Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center
Editor-in-Chief of StoppingSocialism.com
[email protected]
“Over the past decade, since Sen. Bernie Sanders almost won the Democratic presidential nomination as a democratic socialist, socialism has made a comeback in America. As this poll shows, young Americans in particular think socialism is the solution to the economic difficulties they currently face. They think socialism will make housing more affordable and the U.S. government should nationalize major sectors of the economy. More than half of young Americans also question the moral integrity of the United States.
“As a former high school teacher, this is not all that surprising. During my teaching career, I routinely witnessed my teaching colleagues presenting socialism as morally superior to free-market capitalism. Moreover, most of my fellow social studies teachers portrayed socialism as the most-fair form of government. I hate to say it, but America’s public schools have become socialist indoctrination factories. No wonder so many young Americans think socialism will improve their circumstances.”
Chris Talgo
Editorial Director
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
If you’d like to interview a Heartland Institute expert on this topic or other topics, please contact Donald Kendal, the director of the Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center and one of the primary authors of the Heartland/Rasmussen survey, at [email protected], or contact Vice President and Director of Communications Jim Lakely at [email protected]. You can also call/text Jim at 312-731-9364.
Survey of 1,201 18-39 US Likely Voters
Conducted August 26-27, 2025, by Rasmussen Reports and StoppingSocialism.com
- Trump Approval
24% Strongly approve
24% Somewhat approve
13% Somewhat disapprove
37% Strongly disapprove
2% Not sure
2. In the 2024 presidential election, who did you vote for, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump or some other candidate? Or did you not vote in the 2024 presidential election?
45% Harris
41% Trump
7% Other
6% Didn’t vote
1% Not sure
3. If the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries were held today, and the candidates were Kamala Harris, Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, Gavin Newsom, and Zohran Mamdani who would you vote for?
36% Harris
9% Ocasio-Cortez
16% Sanders
9% Newsom
4% Mamdani
6% Some other candidate
11% Wouldn’t vote
8% Not sure
4. Do you believe the United States is a fundamentally good, evil, or morally mixed country?
28% Fundamentally good
17% Fundamentally evil
50% Mixed
5% Not sure
5. Do you 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?
39% Strongly agree
37% Somewhat agree
12% Somewhat disagree
5% Strongly disagree
7% Not sure
6. The next presidential election is in 2028. Would you like to see a democratic socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election?
53% Yes
27% No
20% Not sure
Answered by the 53% who would like to see a democratic socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election:
7. Among the following options, which best describes the biggest reason you would like to see a democratic socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election?
31% Housing costs are too high
12% Taxes are too low for corporations
11% Taxes are too low for wealthy individuals
8% Want single-payer health care system
17% The economy unfairly benefits older, wealthier Americans
15% The economy unfairly benefits large corporations
5% Some other reason
2% Not sure
NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence
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