Socialism Is More Attractive to Young People and Adults Who Do Not Embrace a Biblical Worldview

Despite socialism’s disastrous track record, it is capitalism that has been given a bad rap. Yet here’s the truth: There’s only one place socialism works, and that is in people’s imaginations. Former President Richard Nixon astutely observed, “Capitalism works better than it sounds, while socialism sounds better than it works.” (A PDF file of this graphic is available here.) Mark it down. However great socialism sounds, it does not work. Even so, this isn’t keeping it from gaining popularity in our day, especially among the young.

First, the good news. Against the backdrop of a Joe Biden presidency, the country is still very strongly divided on this issue. A survey that was conducted recently by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona State University found that “the socialist policies being ushered in by President Joe Biden are opposed by most American adults.” The Cultural Research Center said,

Support for socialism in the United States is at its lowest level in years – with less than a third of all American adults (32%) preferring socialism to capitalism in the wake of the 2020 election – after reaching a peak of 41% of U.S. adults only two years earlier.…

The 9% decline among U.S. adults since 2018 represents more than 20 million fewer preferring socialism over capitalism, [as] a two-thirds majority (68%) said they prefer capitalism to socialism (more than 170 million adults), [while] one-third – about 80 million Americans – prefer[ring] socialism is significant, despite the overall decline in support for socialism nationwide.

This notwithstanding, young Americans—even young evangelicals—are being strongly influenced to buy into socialism by leftist trends and leftist political advertising.

Jeff Myers of Summit Ministries, a Christian ministry that helps students become familiar with the biblical worldview, observes that while conservatives tend to focus on elections every two to four years, godless, leftist ideas have so saturated American culture that young people are bombarded with leftist propaganda constantly. Myers continues,

Young, church-going Christians aren’t fighting this leftward current. They’re swimming with it.

Comprehensive studies of evangelical youth reveal 69% who attend church do not believe in absolute truth, and agree that if your beliefs offend someone, your beliefs are wrong. Young Christians are also five times as likely as their older peers to embrace Marxist ideas.

Then Myers cites social researcher George Barna, whose research has found that among young Christians who hold a biblical worldview,

- - - 83% are supportive of capitalism,
    - 91% believe in conservative social policies,
    - 89% oppose abortion, and
    - 83% believe in small or limited government.

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image credit: Jeff Myers, Summit Ministries