Little has changed in the way Americans respond to certain words. I think their skewed on the “progressive” word. Here’s the breakdown:
Group Sample Size Plus or minus …
Total sample 1,521 3.5 percentage points
Republicans 380 6.5 percentage points
Democrats 489 5.5 percentage points
Independents 569 5.0 percentage points
From the Pew Research Center:
Little Change in Public’s Response to ‘Capitalism,’ ‘Socialism’
A Political Rhetoric Test
The recent Occupy Wall Street protests have focused public attention on what organizers see as the excesses of America’s free market system, but perceptions of capitalism – and even of socialism – have changed little since early 2010 despite the recent tumult.
The American public’s take on capitalism remains mixed, with just slightly more saying they have a positive (50%) than a negative (40%) reaction to the term. That’s largely unchanged from a 52% to 37% balance of opinion in April 2010.
