The fifth Annual Report on U.S. Attitudes Toward Socialism, Communism, and Collectivism has been released by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC). The news is not good if these findings are to be looked upon as the direction in which our country is going. Capitalists beware, Socialism is gaining in popularity, especially among the younger generations.

On information gathering, it is described as the following: “The report, polled by internationally recognized research and data firm YouGov, synthesizes data from 2,100 representative U.S. respondents ages 16 and older, and the margin of error is plus or minus 2.32%.”

Socialism is a more favorable term now and the younger generation thinks that President Trump is “the greatest threat to world peace.” Never mind that Trump is the only president in recent memory to not start a war. The Orange Man is bad.

This year’s study showed increased favorability of the term ‘socialism’ (49%) among Gen Z compared to 2019 (40%). Opinions of capitalism declined slightly from 2019 to 2020 among all Americans (58% to 55%), with Gen Z (ages 16-23) slightly up (49% to 52%) and Millennials (ages 24-39) down (50% to 43%). 35% of Millennials and 31% of Gen Z support the gradual elimination of the capitalist system in favor of a more socialist system.

It also showed growing concern for Donald Trump as president, especially among younger generations of Americans, with 34% of Gen Z and 35% of Millennials seeing him as the greatest threat to world peace, up 8% and 7% from 2019, respectively. This sentiment held true regarding his handling of the pandemic as well, with 39% of Gen Z and 32% of Millennials believing Trump is more responsible for COVID-19 becoming a pandemic than Xi Jinping of China. Opinions of America’s inequality grew markedly from 2019 with 68% of Americans thinking that America’s highest earners don’t pay their fair share. Among these Americans, 57% of Gen Z and 60% of Millennials favor a complete change of our economic system away from capitalism — a 14% and 8% increase from 2019, respectively.

Marion Smith, Executive Director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, says that it “shocks the conscience” to learn that the president is viewed as more of a threat than all the brutal dictators in the world and that four out of ten respondents believe that America is a racist country. She lays the blame on the American school system, as well as the media and popular culture and that is a completely legit conclusion. Anyone who has raised a child in the last 20-30 years knows what she is talking about. American teachers have moved history lessons sharply to the far left’s view of the world, including the history of our own country. One in four Americans wants to eliminate capitalism and embrace socialism. Turn on any primetime television program and the liberal writers are busy promoting everything from social injustice and racial inequality to the LGBTQ agenda. Gen Z and Millennials have been brainwashed from their earliest days. Capitalism is trashed and financial success is looked upon as corrupt. Remember when Obama said, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money”? It was an off TelePrompter remark. Adlibs reveal what politicians like Obama truly believe. Obama is a good example of one who wishes to lead everyone else into socialist reforms (Obamacare, anyone?) while reaping the rewards of capitalism himself. He is being made fabulously wealthy with his deal with Netflix. When has he “made enough money”?

Here are some key takeaways from the VOC’s report:

40% of Americans have a favorable view of socialism, up from 36% in 2019. Socialist sentiment is increasing among younger generations with Gen Z’s favorability at 49%, up from 40% in 2019.

Over a quarter of Americans (26%) support the gradual elimination of the capitalist system in favor of a more socialist system with a surge in support among younger generations (31% of Gen Z and 35% of Millennials).

18% of Gen Z and 13% of Millennials think communism is a fairer system than capitalism and deserves consideration in America.

30% of Gen Z has a favorable view of Marxism, up 6% from 2019, compared to 27% of Millennials, down 9% from 2019.

Over one-third of Americans (39%) are likely to support a member of the Democratic Socialist party for office with greater support among younger generations (51% of Gen Z and 44% of Millennials). 16% of Gen Z and Millennials are likely to support a member of the Communist party for office.

There is also a decline in how proud Americans are of our country. A June Gallup Poll found that only 20% of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 are “extremely proud to be an American.” That finding is the lowest percentage of any demographic.

Although a majority of adults in the U.S. still say they are “extremely proud” (42%) or “very proud” (21%) to be American, both readings are the lowest they have been since Gallup’s initial measurement in 2001.

At the same time, 15% of Americans say they are “moderately proud,” 12% “only a little proud” and 9% “not at all proud.”

The Gallup finding is the sixth consecutive year it has fallen to a new low in Gallup’s trend. Both the Gallup poll and the VOC’s report began their polling on these topics before the Trump administration, so any liberal finger-pointing solely at Trump is insincere at best, cynical at worst. As I noted above, the decline in American education has been ongoing for at least two decades, perhaps longer. Many teachers are more interested in teaching their own political idealogy (or the idealogy of their union) than actual historical facts and events. Students have been Howard Zinn’d into believing America is not a force for good in the world but a bad actor and that is very unfortunate. The Greatest Generation who fought so bravely for our freedoms is being replaced by a new wave of Americans who think as those they fought against.