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Should progressives be afraid of charges by conservatives of being "too socialist"? Today's new survey from Navigator Research suggests: maybe not. Follow along for a brief dive into the data, or read the full memo here. navigatorresearch.org/confronting-cl…
Similar to other recent polling, we find that the brand of "socialism" is highly unfavorable (21% favorable - 60% unfavorable), just as the brand of "capitalism" is pretty favorable (55% favorable - 23% unfavorable). But what does that mean for the policy agenda of progressives?
In one experiment in this survey, we divided respondents into 2 groups: half who evaluated whether certain progressive policies are "examples of socialism," and half assessing their level of support or opposition toward those policies. What did we find?
Every one tested - universal health care, raising taxes on the wealthy, debt-free college, federal jobs guarantee, expanding Social Security, raising the minimum wage, regulations re: climate change - earned *majority* support. Only the first 3 were seen as examples of socialism.
Here, you can see where the policies land. The important takeaway: some policies may be considered examples of socialism, but that doesn't mean people don't think they're ideas worth supporting and can help the country. 
This presents two challenges for conservatives making this attack: (1) There is a real credibility challenge, because many policies are not viewed through a lens of socialism. (2) Even the ones that are, they earn wide-levels of support, which will present a messaging challenge.
On top of that, this survey finds language to equip progressives to counteract charges of socialism. Example 1: Conservatives have "cried wolf" about progressive policies being socialist for decades, when those policies have greatly helped working & middle class Americans.
Example 2: Conservatives embraced a failed capitalism prioritizing the wealthy & large corporations over working people by giving tax cuts to the top while trying to cut public programs for the rest. Both examples win by 8-point margins against conservatives' socialism charges.
More thoughts on climate change later, but again, the full report from Navigator can be viewed here. navigatorresearch.org/confronting-cl…
