During the 2008 presidential election, then-Senator Barack Obama was caught on video telling a Wisconsin plumber, "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
That was a major moment of alarm, not only for Democrats, but for the rest of the country. Obama was promoting socialism and his language had to be condemned. Democrat campaign consultants panicked over Obama's language and launched major PR campaigns to spin his remarks away from socialist definitions.
Fast forward to the 2016 presidential election and a new poll shows the majority of Democrats openly believe socialism has a positive effect on society. Details from POLITICO, bolding is mine:
Nearly six-in-ten Democratic primary voters believe socialism has a 'positive impact on society,' according to polling conducted this month for the right-leaning issue advocacy group American Action Network and provided to POLITICO.Considering the overwhelming support for socialist Bernie Sanders, who won the Democrat New Hampshire primary in a landslide, these numbers aren't surprising. However, the rapid shift to socialism and against capitalism, especially among the millennial generation (the largest generation America has ever produced) is highly concerning.
Democratic voters in every age group, every gender, and every race view socialism favorably, according to the early February telephone poll of 1,000 likely Democratic primary voters fielded by Republican firm OnMessage Inc. and commissioned by AAN, which is tied to the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC dedicated to House Republicans. And among people 45 and under — a group that has helped power Sanders’ primary performances — the ideology is preferred to capitalism by a margin of 46 percent to 19 percent.