OOAs (Official Obama Authorities – pronounced ooo-aah’s)

Shocked, shocked, I tell you am I. The OOAs, furious in their denunciation, they will be.

Rasmussen has just published a major poll on US voter attitudes towards socialism. It reveals that Democrats are evenly divided in their views on socialism, with 45 percent viewing it favourably, and 45 percent negatively. This is a strikingly high level of support for socialist ideology within a political party in the United States (and the ruling party at that), and strongly suggests that Democrats are increasingly moving towards a continental-European style approach to economic issues, advancing a big government agenda that resembles that of European Social Democratic governments. This is reflected in the Obama presidency’s growing emphasis on tax the rich, class warfare policies that have been de rigeur across the Atlantic for decades, an approach that places heavy emphasis upon the redistribution of wealth.

Among non-Democrats, however, attitudes towards socialism are very different. Republicans and Independents are overwhelmingly opposed to socialism, and as Rasmussen has concluded, just 24 percent of all Americans have a favourable opinion of socialism, with 67 percent holding an unfavorable view of a socialist economic system. According to Rasmussen, 68 percent of Americans hold a favourable view of “capitalism,” and 76 percent have a positive view of the “free enterprise system.” This chimes with a January Rasmussen poll, which found that 70 percent of Americans “think a free market economy is better than one managed by the government.” A separate Rasmussen poll released on Tuesday also revealed a deep-seated suspicion of the federal government among a clear majority of Americans, with 63 percent offering a negative view.