The issue with all of those polls is that the average American has been lied to about the definition of communism, socialism, fascism, etc. for decades. So unless the polls avoid using the terms directly and instead describe what they are referring to, the poll is effectively useless for these kinds of metrics.
Just look at the people that vehemently hate Obamacare, but will defend the Affordable Care Act. It’s literally the same thing, but propaganda makes people think that they’re not only different things, but have dramatically different thoughts about the same thing just depending on what it’s called.
Fair point! Still, let’s be careful with dismissing these polls. If someone can tar your policy with labels like Liberal, Socialist, or Leftist, it can turn a lot of Americans off.
Welcome to the Republican platform for the last 30+ years. They’re been calling everything under the sun Communist, Socialist, and Fascist specifically so people no longer know what those words mean. Combine that with reducing both federal and state education spending whenever possible and vilifying upper education as some sort of liberal conspiracy/propaganda machine, and you’re just about caught up.
The issue with all of those polls is that the average American has been lied to about the definition of communism, socialism, fascism, etc. for decades. So unless the polls avoid using the terms directly and instead describe what they are referring to, the poll is effectively useless for these kinds of metrics.
Just look at the people that vehemently hate Obamacare, but will defend the Affordable Care Act. It’s literally the same thing, but propaganda makes people think that they’re not only different things, but have dramatically different thoughts about the same thing just depending on what it’s called.
Fair point! Still, let’s be careful with dismissing these polls. If someone can tar your policy with labels like Liberal, Socialist, or Leftist, it can turn a lot of Americans off.
Welcome to the Republican platform for the last 30+ years. They’re been calling everything under the sun Communist, Socialist, and Fascist specifically so people no longer know what those words mean. Combine that with reducing both federal and state education spending whenever possible and vilifying upper education as some sort of liberal conspiracy/propaganda machine, and you’re just about caught up.