What a depressing poll. 

The Heartland Institute's poll, done in conjunction with Rasmussen Reports, shows us a couple of things we wish we could unsee.

First, that a third of Democrats want the US to lose its trade war with China, and another third aren't sure whether they want the US or China to win. 

Only 30% want a better deal for America, because an American victory would be good for Trump. 

Perhaps worse--no, definitely worse--is that 37% of voters aged 18-29 have a favorable impression of communism, and 50% of these voters would like to see a Democratic Socialist be the next president. 

Heartland/Rasmussen Poll: Democrats Hope China Beats America in Trade War, Voters Overwhelmingly Reject Socialism https://t.co/pUNVGSgmKU

— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) May 14, 2025

To be fair--and let's face it, I am disinclined to be fair to Democrats--wanting Donald Trump to fail is pretty much what you would expect from any set of partisans, and that only a third of them so hate Trump that they actually want our country to suffer for the pleasure of seeing it. And given that globalism is the brand, so to speak, of the elite wing of the Democrat Party, this number actually doesn't shock me. 

I'm pretty sure that more than a few Republicans would have been happy to see Biden fall on his face at times if it meant kicking Democrats out of office. Extreme partisans of any stripe exist. I seem to recall some mega-MAGA folks saying that they would rather see Biden win than have Ron DeSantis or any Republican other than Trump move into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.--a sentiment that I thought insane. 

That doesn't mean these people are off the hook--they aren't--but rather that this is a pretty normal state of affairs for extreme partisans of any kind. 

The second finding that sticks out, though, is perhaps not surprising but very scary. The indoctrination of our youth has been working. The kids are being taught that communism is a good thing and capitalism is the root of all evil, and the propaganda has stuck. 

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL (May 12, 2025) – A new poll by the Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center at The Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports found likely American voters strongly oppose socialism, communism, and do not wish to see a democratic socialist, such as Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, become president in 2028. 

The survey of 1,067 likely voters, completed on May 4, 2025, found 71% of likely voters say they think a free-market economic system is better than socialism. Only 12% of voters say socialism is better.  

Similarly, 46% of voters say they do not want to “see a democratic socialist candidate win the next presidential election,” compared to just 31% who say they do. Seventy-four percent of likely voters have a “very unfavorable” or “somewhat unfavorable” opinion of communism, while only 18% have a “very favorable” or “somewhat favorable” impression of the radical economic philosophy. 

However, despite voters’ rejection of socialism and communism, support for socialism and communism remain relatively high among younger voters. Thirty-seven percent of likely voters aged 18-29 have a “very favorable” or “somewhat favorable” impression of communism, and 50% of voters in the same age demographic say they would like to see a democratic socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election. 

The difference between people who were educated before the school system's descent into a left-wing propaganda machine and the current generation is stark. Our public schools were never great at teaching history, but over the past decade or two, they have become propaganda mills that push radical left-wing ideology and sell it as "social justice."

There is nothing "kind" or "benign" about this. A lot of students believe that communism is an ideology of fairness, not the murderously "utopian" movement that slaughtered 100 million people. 

The reason is simple: our education system, from Kindergarten through the universities, teaches precisely that.