October 1, 2019 9:00AM # Poll: The Democratic Coalition Is Divided Over Socialism, Attitudes Toward the Rich By [Emily Ekins](https://www.cato.org/people/emily-ekins) --- SHARE With the democratic primaries underway, the multitude of Democratic candidates will likely highlight the fault lines that divide the Democratic Party. The recent [Cato 2019 Welfare, Work, and Wealth National Survey](https://www.cato.org/publications/survey-reports/what-americans-think-about-poverty-wealth-work) found one such fault line dividing liberal and moderate Democrats: socialism and attitudes toward the rich. ![Democratic party divided over socialism, feelings toward the rich](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2019-09/DemocraticDivide.jpg?itok=7lTla_jJ) Liberal Democrats are about 10–25 points more likely than moderate Democrats to: - have favorable views of socialism (74% vs. 49%) - to strongly support raising top marginal tax rates to 70% (60% vs. 38%) - to strongly agree that people admire the rich too much (51% vs. 36%) - to strongly agree the U.S. wealth distribution is “unjust” (51% vs. 30%) - to believe that billionaires are a threat to democracy (58% vs. 49%) Conversely, moderate Democrats like the rich more than liberal Democrats do. Moderate Democrats are about 10–20 points more likely than liberal Democrats to - feel more “admiration” than “resentment” toward the rich (65% vs. 48%) - believe the rich earned their wealth by creating value for society (64% vs. 48%) - agree “we are all better off when people get rich” because they invest in new businesses and technology (58% vs. 41%) - strongly agree there’s nothing wrong with making as much money as possible (50% vs. 38%) *[Full survey results and report found here.](https://www.cato.org/publications/survey-reports/what-americans-think-about-poverty-wealth-work)* **Implications** These divisions could have important implications as Democratic candidates seek to stand out and attract primary voters. In particular, as Democratic candidates have [proposed](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/24/us/politics/bernie-sanders-wealth-tax.html) [new wealth taxes](https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/politics/elizabeth-warren-2020-tax-plan-50-million-assets/index.html), “t[axing the hell out of the wealthy](https://www.vox.com/2019/8/1/20750252/bill-de-blasio-tax-the-hell-democratic-debate.),” or asserted that [billionaires are the reason for people’s frustrations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9mWGxJdJU0&feature=youtu.be). These proposals and claims may be effective in garnering the support of the Democratic Party’s leftward flank, but may fail to capture the enthusiasm of more centrist voters. [![Cato 2019 Welfare, Work, and Wealth National Survey](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2019-09/Cover%20for%20web.jpg?itok=PmSlo42A)](https://www.cato.org/publications/survey-reports/what-americans-think-about-poverty-wealth-work) ***Read more of the survey report [here](https://www.cato.org/publications/survey-reports/what-americans-think-about-poverty-wealth-work).*** *The Cato Institute 2019 Welfare, Work, and Wealth Survey was designed and conducted by the Cato Institute in collaboration with YouGov. YouGov collected responses online March 5 to 8, 2019 from a representative national sample of 1,700 Americans 18 years of age and older. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 2.2 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.* [*Sign up here to receive forthcoming Cato Institute*](https://www.cato.org/project-public-opinion)[*survey reports*](https://www.cato.org/project-public-opinion)*.* ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Social Welfare and Poverty](https://www.cato.org/social-welfare-poverty), [Center for Representative Government](https://www.cato.org/center-representative-government), [Public Opinion](https://www.cato.org/public-opinion) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).