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As New York City’s Democratic nominee for mayor Zohran Mandani lays out progressive plans on the campaign trail, a new Fox News national survey reveals capitalism remains more popular than socialism. Still, voters support raising taxes on the wealthy.
Among other things, Mamdani, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, has promised to make New York City more affordable by taxing its elite residents.
Voters nationwide favor the government increasing taxes on the wealthy if it means it will strengthen the country’s social programs (73% support raising taxes to achieve this goal) and spread the wealth to those less fortunate (64%). They are less inclined to increase taxes on the wealthy “so that nobody gets to be too rich” (47% support vs. 52% oppose).
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To varying degrees, most Democrats (89%), Republicans (56%), and independents (78%) support increasing taxes on the wealthy to strengthen social programs.
Over half of Republicans oppose raising taxes on the rich to spread the wealth and to prevent any one individual from becoming too well-off – both goals most Democrats and independents support.
Mamdani’s favorable ratings nationally are underwater by 19 percentage points (18% favorable vs. 37% unfavorable), with the largest share of voters, 44%, having never heard of him.
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Those most likely to view Mamdani positively are very liberals (44%) and Democratic men (34%). Negative views are largely driven by Republicans (they are the most likely to be familiar with him), with over half saying they’re not keen on him (54% unfavorable). Many Democrats (47%) and over half of independents (55%) have never heard of him.
Despite the appetite for soaking the rich, two-thirds (65%) have an unfavorable view of socialism. That’s the highest recorded in a handful of Fox News surveys going back to 2019.
Socialism’s strongest supporters, like Mamdani’s, are very liberals (53% favorable, and the only subgroup where support is over 50%) and Democratic men (41%).
While capitalism remains popular (twice as many view it positively compared to socialism), the 53% rating it favorably is down from a high of 57% in 2019.
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The biggest proponents of capitalism are Republican men (80% favorable), voters ages 65 and over (74%), very conservatives (71%), and those with graduate degrees (70%).
Skepticism about capitalism is highest among independents, women, and Hispanic voters. However, each group is more likely to favor capitalism than socialism by double-digits.
Majorities of voters under age 30 view both socialism (56% unfavorable) and capitalism (61%) unfavorably.
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Conducted Sept. 6-9, 2025, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,004 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (119) and cellphones (638) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (247). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics of respondents are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis and voter file data.
