GALLUP: HALF OF DEMOCRATS, QUARTER OF REPUBLICANS APPROVE OF SOCIALISM
According to a Gallup poll conducted November 18-19, more than half of Democrats (53%) approve of socialism, which isn’t surprising, but almost one-quarter of Republicans (23%) also do.
What the poll reveals is that there is a significant difference between the reality of what voters approve and their reactions to terms that represent those realities. For example, Democrats favor the “federal government” over “capitalism” by 20 percentage points, yet they approve of “small business” almost unanimously, at a 94% level. When asked about big business, Democrats approval rate drops all the way to 44%.
But when the term “free enterprise” is used instead of capitalism, 88% Democrats approve of it. This indicates that capitalism is a loaded term for Democrats and that the left has demonized the very word.
Even among Republicans, there is a significant drop when big business is compared to small business; small business gets an approval rate of 95% while big business gets 75%.
The apparent prejudice against corporations and capitalism that has been nurtured by those on the left for decades has borne bitter fruit; the inference that can be drawn from the approval of small business and disapproval of big business indicates that many Americans don’t mind success up to a point, but let someone get too successful and envy and anger seep in. This class warfare nurtured by the left has given us the success of Barack Obama.
Publius Prime 
Statist socialism is not true socialism. It is NOT the socialization of power. It is the monopolization of power. Putting power into the federal gov as a monopoly provider of goods and services or to use that monopoly power to dictate how companies will do business is not socialization of power.
Voting is an illusion. Power is not socialized through voting given the proven evidence of Obama. Even the left didn’t get what they wanted and for 2 years they had a super majority.
Free market is the true socialization of power. Capitalism as defined by capital owners controlling the means of production is only accomplished through the gov propping up market failures ie crony capitalism. Elimination of gov market interference and destroying gov monopolizes spreads power to the consumer and labor (real labor, not unions). True socialization of power is having hundreds of competitors and not a monopoly of 4 or 5 defunct giants needing so much gov help that they cannot compete. We should have 100s of car makers not 3 or 5. There should be 1000s of private schools not one giant monolithic school system. We should have dozens of oil companies, not just 3 to 5.
So people who call themselves socialists are a joke and an oxymoron. Statism is NOT the path to true socialization of power, free market is. Creating a giant gov monopoly controlling health care and the market place only puts power in the hands of the government and crony companies. Its a joke and an illusion to believe voting socializes power.
When the general population voluntarily gives way to larger inneffective overpriced government, that is the tipping point to socialism. The selfish self-interests of various minority groups combined together equal an overwhelming tide of change that cannot be easily reversed. Power is transferred from the citizen to the government and one generation concedes the Liberty of all future generations. ‘Society’ begins to guide the control of private property, goods, and services for the good of ‘society.’ I always wondered how a retrospective villain like Adolf Hitler was given power so easily by the German people. Now, I am living through the same transfer of power in our country and I no longer have to wonder. The people do it for their own perceived short term self-interest. They know not the damage they are doing. Nor do they care!