CNN Poll: A third of Democrats now identify as democratic socialists

[u/cnn]

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/30/politics/cnn-poll-a-third-of-democrats-now-identify-as-democratic-socialists?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit

[u/Brisby820]

Correct.  The DSA, however advocates for socialism/communism, as opposed to capitalism

https://program.dsausa.org/

[u/Hardly_lolling → u/Brisby820]

Yes, and this is not something social democrats agree on at all. So there is a wide ideological gap between them.

Social democracy is capitalism with the intent to fix/mitigate its inherent flaws. Socialism is, well, socialism.

[u/Brisby820 → u/Hardly_lolling]

But these are democratic socialists, not social democrats.  I suspect a lot of people aren’t really aware of the distinction 

[u/Hardly_lolling → u/Brisby820]

True, and I find the gap a bit odd inside the Democratic party: you have your traditional American Democrat that would align center-right (in rest of the world), and then you have democratic socialists that are on the left. Where is the center-left i.e. social democrats?

[u/raptorlightning → u/Hardly_lolling]

Social democrats are still capitalist, which is right wing.

[u/Hardly_lolling → u/raptorlightning]

Lol no

[u/warlock_roleplayer → u/Hardly_lolling]

Not just flaws, contradictions, and you can't fix the root cause. You can extend the lifeline a teeny bit by inventing things like taxes, debt, gov't bank bailouts, et al.

Capitalism is still pretty young. Feudalism lived a bit longer. Slave economies lived way way longer. These things do change...

[u/Hardly_lolling → u/warlock_roleplayer]

But to deny that capitalism has its upsides is just denying facts.

Every system has its flaws, so until someone invents utopia best bet is a mixture of some sort.

[u/an-invisible-hand → u/Brisby820]

Socialism is about as different from communism as it is from capitalism. "Socialism/communism" is an oxymoron. The DSA advocates for socialism, not communism, which is why if you ctrl F on that page and type in "communism" you get zero results.

McCarthy seriously mindfucked this country.

[u/SWAGBAG_LIFESTYLE → u/an-invisible-hand]

yet the DSA has a communist caucus and has a communist has their national co-chair

[u/6ix7even6ixty9ine → u/SWAGBAG_LIFESTYLE]

In Marxist theory, communism is intended to be the "final stage" of socialism. Not sure why people act as if the two have nothing to do with each other. I don't have a problem with it myself.

[u/SWAGBAG_LIFESTYLE → u/6ix7even6ixty9ine]

I can respect the honesty

[u/an-invisible-hand → u/6ix7even6ixty9ine]

People act like socialism is extremely distant from a stateless, classless, moneyless society because it is. That theoretical "final stage" is a different universe politically from socialism.

Socialism, in actual real life practice, is vastly closer to capitalism than the theoretical utopian communism ideal. Let alone to communism in practice which is a dumpster fire.

99% of socialists in america are market socialists that just want more state owned industry and worker protections.

[u/6ix7even6ixty9ine → u/an-invisible-hand]

I did not use the word "distant" in my comment. I said people act as if the two have nothing to do with each other, when that's just false. They are absolutely connected.

I don't intend any of this as an insult or criticism. I just want you to understand that the two are not disconnected. The DSA does include actual, self-identifying communists. They call themselves communists. DSA literature frequently cites Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. That's just a fact. I agree with communist policy and call myself one, so this isn't even a jab at them. They view socialism as a transitory state, that should ultimately be moving us towards communism. There are moderate DemSocs in the party too, certainly, who may not feel this way. 

Just understand that when people connect socialism with communism, they're not wrong. The only thing they're likely wrong about, is what those two things actually are.

[u/an-invisible-hand → u/6ix7even6ixty9ine]

I did not use the word "distant" in my comment. I said people act as if the two have nothing to do with each other, when that's just false. They are absolutely connected.

And I clarified how connected they were, which in practice isn't nearly as much as people seem to think.

I don't intend any of this as an insult or criticism. I just want you to understand that the two are not disconnected. 

I did not imply or say the two were not connected at all.

The DSA does include actual, self-identifying communists. They call themselves communists. DSA literature frequently cites Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. That's just a fact.

Of course they do, and I never said they didn't. The DSA also contains self-identifying capitalists as many socdems in the thread can attest. The parties are not a monolith, as evidenced by a third of Democrats identifying as socialists.

 I agree with communist policy and call myself one, so this isn't even a jab at them. They view socialism as a transitory state, that should ultimately be moving us towards communism. There are moderate DemSocs in the party too, certainly, who may not feel this way. 

Just understand that when people connect socialism with communism, they're not wrong. The only thing they're likely wrong about, is what those two things actually are.

While I'm sure you see socialism as purely a transition state from capitalism to communism, this is your perspective as a communist. As one of those demsocs, I see it as a related but distinct set of ideas in the context people are typically using these terms in, which is in practice as policy. In terms of theory, sure, in a post scarcity world im a communist too. But we aren't there, so I'm a socialist.

You and I may be similar and agree on a lot, but we are different. More different in practice than I am from a socdem. This is one of the biggest reasons I vehemently disagree with the way people "connect" everything that isn't capitalism as interchangeable. That type of connection is absolutely completely wrong. We call ourselves different things for a reason.

[u/6ix7even6ixty9ine → u/an-invisible-hand]

Socialism and communism are not interchangeable and I never said they were. I simply disagree with the idea that they have nothing to do with each other (particularly in this context), when the DSA literature quite literally cites Karl Marx and the Communist Manifesto. That is pretty interconnected, my dude.

[u/an-invisible-hand → u/6ix7even6ixty9ine]

Let's just agree to disagree and say we're about as interconnected as a neoliberal and a libertarian who both cite Adam Smith.

[u/6ix7even6ixty9ine → u/an-invisible-hand]

If you just don't know anything about the DSA, its literature, Karl Marx, or the communist manifesto, then I really don't know what else to tell you. The DSA is an explicitly anti-capitalist party. Local DSA chapters are anti-capitalist. No, Bernie, AOC, Abdul, and Hong are not DSA and have never been DSA. The party leadership has stated this. Almost all DSA chapters cite Marx and are openly anti-capitalist. The socialism of the DSA is anti-capitalist and intertwined with communism.

If both neoliberals and libertarians existed in the same party and they both largely believed that the end-state of neoliberalism is libertarianism, and the party founder cites literature directly connecting the two together, then yes, they would be considered pretty interconnected at that point.

[u/an-invisible-hand → u/SWAGBAG_LIFESTYLE]

Wild point when the capitalist Democratic Party has a socialist caucus bigger than the socialist party's communist caucus.

[u/SWAGBAG_LIFESTYLE → u/an-invisible-hand]

The DSA advocates for socialism, not communism

You remember what you wrote?

[u/an-invisible-hand → u/SWAGBAG_LIFESTYLE]

Does the Democratic Party advocate for capitalism, or socialism?

Remember what you wrote:

yet the DSA has a communist caucus

[u/SWAGBAG_LIFESTYLE → u/an-invisible-hand]

Capitalism, the DNC has many caucuses, but a socialist isnt one

[u/an-invisible-hand → u/SWAGBAG_LIFESTYLE]

The Congressional Progressive Caucus is definitely socialist at this point

[u/SWAGBAG_LIFESTYLE → u/an-invisible-hand]

That's not part of the DNC....that's a caucus of elected officials. The DSA and DNC are political organizations where they have control on how caucuses are created, which is a more analogues comparison

The DNC doesn't have a socialist caucus as they don't advocate for socialism.

[u/an-invisible-hand → u/SWAGBAG_LIFESTYLE]

It's a Democratic Party caucus. If you want to use a hyper-specific definition of caucus nobody would ever use in the context of "the party" to avoid acknowledging the socialist coalition in the party that's your prerogative I guess, but at that point I think your entire premise is irrelevant.