With final Des Moines Register polling showing Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton essentially even, consider this:
A little-noticed data point in the new Selzer & Co. Iowa poll, in fact, shows that 43 percent of likely [Democratic] voters in the Feb. 1 caucuses say they would use the word “socialist” to describe themselves.And to be very clear, this question was not whether they would vote for a socialist or sympathize with socialism; it’s whether they consider themselvessocialist.The 43 percent of likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers who self-identify as socialist is actually more than the number who identify themselves as capitalist — 38 percent.
That’s right. More likely Democratic voters self-identify as Socialist than Capitalist.
Here is the full chart:
Daily Kos is practically giddy:
The poll also found that supporters of self-proclaimed democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders are almost twice as likely to consider themselves socialist compared to supporters of Sec. Hillary Clinton.
Maybe Aleister was right to suggest this version of Bernie’s America ad:
Bernie For Glorious Leader from Aleister on Vimeo.
What flies in the Iowa Demcratic electorate, however, may not fly nationally, where being a Socialist is the least favorable attribute in a candidate, according to a June 2015 Gallup poll:
Based on that Gallup polling, Bernie Sanders would have a better chance if he were a gay Muslim Hispanic woman, than a socialist. (I understand, the polling data doesn’t work that way, but play along with me here.)
I hope Bernie wins the nomination. Oh boy, do I hope he wins.
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