Big Business and Capitalism at 15-Year Low in Popularity

Americans are increasingly souring on big business and capitalism — but they’re not turning to socialism quite yet.

New polling from Gallup found that just 37% of Americans have a positive rating of big business, down from 46% in 2021.

It’s a stunning turnaround in less than a decade. As recently as 2019, 52% of Americans had a positive view of big business.

The poll also found that 54% of Americans rate capitalism positively, a six percentage point decline from 2021. It’s the lowest favorability rating recorded for capitalism since Gallup began polling this question in 2010.

At the same time, Americans continue to view other aspects of capitalism in a positive light. Eighty-one percent have a positive view of free enterprise, while 95% have a positive view of small businesses.

Negative views of capitalism are especially pronounced among younger adults from the ages of 18 to 34, with 43% having a positive view of capitalism and 54% having a negative view.

In fact, 49% of young adults had a positive view of socialism, compared to 46% who had a negative view.

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That could help explain why Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist state assemblyman, won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor earlier this summer with the support of young people.

And politicians who are critical of capitalism, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have grown more prominent in American politics since 2016.

Nonetheless, socialism’s popularity has remained relatively flat in the population at large — 39% of Americans said they had a positive view this year, while 38% said the same in 2021. Meanwhile, 57% said they had a negative view of socialism this year.

There’s also a significant partisan difference in views of socialism and capitalism.

Among Republicans, 74% have a positive rating of capitalism, while just 14% have a positive view of socialism. Forty-two percent of Democrats rate capitalism positively, while 66% have a positive view of socialism.

The poll included 1,094 American adults and was conducted between August 1 and August 20. The margin of error was four percentage points.