Politics

I Like Socialism. Also Capitalism. Also Family Values.

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So here's a chart from the fine folks at the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press:

As Bret Jacobson points out over at Big Government, it's a disappointing finish for libertarians, especially when compared with the high marks for progressivism. But things get even more disappointing when you realize that the people who answered this poll—a handy cross-section of the American population—have no idea what these words mean:

Perhaps surprisingly, opinions about the terms "socialism" and "capitalism" are not correlated with each other. Most of those who have a positive reaction to "socialism" also have a positive reaction to "capitalism"; in fact, views of "capitalism" are about the same among those who react positively to "socialism" as they are among those who react negatively (52% and 56%, respectively, view "capitalism" positively). Conversely, views of "socialism" are just as negative among those who have a positive reaction to "capitalism" (64% negative) as those who react negatively (61% negative).

UPDATE: Whoops. My esteemed colleague Tim Cavanaugh posted this yesterday. His take here.