Gallup has been measuring Americans’ opinions of various economic systems or aspects of the economy since 2010. Surveys are conducted over landlines or cellphones with at least 1000 U.S. adults aged 18 and older living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Interviews are conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. The latest survey was conducted in August of this year.
In these surveys, respondents are asked, “Just off the top of your head, would you say you have a positive or negative image of each of the following?” Their views are then solicited on capitalism, free enterprise, socialism, big business and small business. Each post in this series will focus on a subset of the 2025 survey responses. So far I’ve compared responses to capitalism vs. socialism, free enterprise vs. capitalism and big business vs. small business. This post will compare responses to free enterprise and socialism. Here’s a summary of those responses, by self-reported party identity:
Definition of Terms
Free enterprise is an economic system in which private business operates in competition and largely free of state control. Google Dictionary
Free enterprise describes an economic system in which prices, products, and services are determined by market forces rather than government intervention. In such a system, businesses operate independently with minimal regulatory control. Key features include private property rights and voluntary exchanges. Investopedia
Socialism is any of various egalitarian economic and political theories or movements advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods. Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Democratic socialism is a political ideology that supports the establishment of a democratically run and decentralized form of socialist economy. Modern democratic socialists vary widely in their views of how a proper socialist economy should function, but all share the goal of abolishing capitalism rather than improving it through state regulation. Some democratic socialists believe that markets have a place in a socialist economy, so long as the competing businesses are publicly, cooperatively, or otherwise socially owned. Britannica Encyclopaedia
A Few Random Comments
Apparently, Democrats like socialism almost as much as they like free enterprise. Which is odd, given that free enterprise is a market-driven economic system largely free of government control and socialism is an ideology that wants to increase government control over economic matters and reduce or even eliminate the role of markets. Seems like a contradiction to me.
Then again, this Gallup survey is not asking for thoughtful responses, it’s asking for gut reactions.
Unfortunately, the gut tends to prevail in politics, ultimately giving us bad policies based on dumb campaign promises. I’m not sure how to overcome this problem in democracies.