According to the Toronto Star, those most favourable towards the ideology were mostly between the ages of 18-44, women, highly educated, earning between $40,000 to $80,000, and living in the Atlantic Provinces.
According to a poll conducted by Forum, 58 percent of Canadians have a positive view of Socialism, while around 40 percent have a negative view.
In the United States, by contrast, 43 percent of Americans hold a positive view of Socialism according to Gallup.
The poll conducted by Forum surveyed 1,733 Canadians.
According to the Toronto Star, those most favourable towards the ideology were mostly between the ages of 18-44, women, highly educated, earning between $40,000 to $80,000, and living in the Atlantic Provinces.
By contrast, those who held negative views were mostly 45 and older, men, poorly educated, lowest earners, people earning between $80,000 to $100,000, and residents of Alberta.
NDP voters had the highest favorability towards Socialism, along with the Liberals while Conservatives were the most unwelcoming towards the idea.
Surprisingly, 58 percent of Canadians also hold positive opinions about Capitalism, while those that despise it poll at around a staggering 40%. In the US, this number stands at 67 percent and 33 percent respectively.
Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research, said that overall, Canadian voters hold a positive view of both socialism and capitalism, but see socialism more positively than Americans.
“Both Canadians and Americans alike see capitalism favourably,” he said. “While Canadian support for socialism and capitalism are divided along party lines, it is not nearly as drastic as shown in the United States.”
The results also don’t come as much of a surprise as former Socialist politician and NDP leader Tommy Douglas has previously been crowned the “Greatest Canadian” ever.
With US Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders calling himself a “Democratic Socialist,” the term “socialism” has become ill-defined as of recently.
Many experts suggest that Bernie is, in fact, a social democrat (supporters of capitalism with strong unions and welfare nets) and not a democratic socialist (supporters of democratic control over the means of production in a non-capitalist economic framework).
The term “socialism” has taken America by storm as Bernie calls his social democratic policies “democratic socialism” and Republicans further extrapolate this term to the problems with countries like Venezuela.
Democrats such as John Hickenlooper and John Delaney ran for the Democratic nomination against Bernie Sanders and others. Hickenlooper has dropped out to pursue a Senate seat instead.
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