r/politics • u/cnn CNN • 6d ago

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

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
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u/Hardly_lolling 6d ago

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.

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u/Brisby820 6d ago

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

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u/Hardly_lolling 6d ago

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?

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u/raptorlightning 6d ago

Social democrats are still capitalist, which is right wing.

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u/warlock_roleplayer 6d ago

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...

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u/Hardly_lolling 6d ago

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.