How 'socialism' plays poorly with the middle of the electorate

[brooklynite]

NBC News

WASHINGTON — The latest NBC/WSJ poll shows that Democrats are still winning over independents and the middle of the electorate in the Trump Era.

But there’s one exception: when the conversation turns to socialism — with just nine percent of independents and 13 percent of moderates viewing the term favorably in the poll. That’s compared with a plurality of indies (by 40 percent to 23 percent) and a majority of moderates (51 percent to 19 percent) viewing “capitalism” positively.

What’s more, the MOST UNPOPULAR candidate quality in the NBC/WSJ poll — more unpopular than being a Muslim or being over the age of 75 — is being a socialist, with 74 percent of independents and 74 percent of moderates either very uncomfortable or having reservations with that quality.

[EveHammond13]

1. of which the GOP and Frank Luntz are well-aware, hence the defamatory attacks

[democratisphere]

2. Agreed. The word "social___" anything needs to be struck from

the Democrats vocabulary. It just doesn't help the cause.

[moose65]

3. This kind of stuff drives me bananas

The right-wing noise machine and the Frank Luntz loonies have decided to label every Democratic idea as "socialist" without any definition or context at all. If you asked these same people to define socialism or even ask them why socialism is "wrong", I doubt that any of them could come up with an answer. No one, and I mean NO ONE, is advocating for socialism in this country. The things that people propose, like universal health care or infrastructure spending, are not socialism. It's kinda like how "liberal" became a dirty word I guess!

But how in the world do we counter this? Or should we even care? The die-hards who cry "socialism" at every turn are never going to vote for a Democrat anyway.

[RandiFan1290]

4. yawn

They will call our candidate a 'socialist' no matter who we run.

[ck4829]

5. +1

Apparently today, eating vegan is now “socialism”

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211896229

If they wanted to, if they really wanted to, they could decide that the either the under or over of how you put your toilet paper could become “socialism” and we’d have a right wing media, conservative Evangelicals, and about 30% of the population happily go along with “putting your tp under is totally socialism you libs!!!”

[PeeJ52]

6. Need to quit using "white" nationalist too... Frame it as nationalism transcending into fascism...

Once you throw in "white", you get into the defensiveness of "them" talking about "me". There is a need to be inclusive. People need to be educated that tRump's pride in nationalism is only a subset of fascism. Just as the Republicans are pointing out the Democrat's Progressive Capitalism looking like Socialism to them, we must liken their Nationalism sliding into the worst form of Fascism and point out the similarities and examples every chance we get.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/fascism/Extreme-nationalism

[irresistable]

7. Quaking with fear over Republican labeling is a fool's game.

The right wing never stopped calling him a socialist....

from 2008

https://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-international-socialist-connections/

Campaign workers for Senator
and presidential candidate Barack Obama are under fire for displaying
a flag featuring communist hero Che Guevara. But Obama has his own controversial
socialist connections. He is, in fact, an associate of a Chicago-based
Marxist group with access to millions of labor union dollars and connections
to expert political consultants, including a convicted swindler.

Obama’s socialist backing
goes back at least to 1996, when he received the endorsement of the
Chicago branch of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) for an
Illinois state senate seat. Later, the Chicago DSA newsletter
reported that Obama, as a state senator, showed up to eulogize Saul
Mendelson, one of the “champions” of “Chicago’s democratic left”
and a long-time socialist activist. Obama’s stint as a “community
organizer” in Chicago has gotten some attention, but his relationship
with the DSA socialists, who groomed and backed him, has been generally
ignored.

Obama could have easily won a third term. So much for labels