Washington, DC - Americans who identify themselves as Democrats are embracing Socialism at an alarming rate, according to a new survey. And, mainstream Democrats are concerned. They fear the scourge of socialism may stymie their efforts to win at least some measure of control in Congress come November.

Gallup just released the results of the poll showing that Democrats have a more positive image of socialism than they do of capitalism. Fifty-seven percent say they view socialism in a more positive light than they view capitalism while just 47% say they favor capitalism.

“The popularity of socialism in the U.S. has never been greater than it is today. Look at what happened in the Bronx. Upstart, 28-year-old socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat veteran, 10-term Congressman Joe Crowley [D-NY] in the New York Democratic primary. Since then closet socialists in the Democratic Party have been outing themselves all across the country, much to the delight of the Democratic Socialists of America, a three-and-a-half decades old organization that has lived in relative obscurity till now,” says Dan Weber, president of the conservative Association of Mature American Citizens.

The DSA is a club, not a party, but since the upset victory of Ocasio-Cortez on June 26th it is being called “the most visible and organized force in politics for an ideology”. 

However, as Weber points out, the majority of far-left candidates in Democratic primaries across the country lost to their mainstream contenders. “And, that is what concerns the party.”

The vast majority of voters in the country are unlikely to embrace a philosophy that blatantly wants to upend our American way of life. But, the sudden focus on socialism has been disquieting and is particularly alarming for traditional Democrats who are seeking to overturn the Republican Congress in November. The socialist movement is not likely to help them because it is anathema to voters and could have the effect of minimizing Democratic turnout while rallying the Republican base in the midterm elections. 

As discredited former Director of the FBI, James Comey, who was a registered Republican until two years ago, put it in a social media post on July 22: “Democrats, please, please don’t lose your minds and rush to the socialist left.”

Ocasio-Cortez may have stolen the limelight of socialism, but there are plenty of far left candidates running for office this year – probably more than ever before. And, they are making their own headlines.

Three, progressive 30-something women in Pennsylvania, for example, upset candidates with plenty of funding and lots of Democratic clout. Two of the upstarts won in state house primaries against veteran mainstream Democrats. The other, also a first time candidate, beat a state Senate aide, also a first timer, but who had party backing as well as lots of campaign funding. Meanwhile, in Texas – of all places – as many as 20 self-proclaimed socialists are on ballots throughout the state this year. And none of them seem to be bashful about identifying themselves as a socialist.

One of those Texans, Ali Khorasani, who is running for Congress, proudly proclaims his progressive inclinations on his Web site. He also posted an online message that reads: “As a member of both the DSA and the Communist Party of Houston, I am deeply aligned with socialist values and anti-capitalism.”

So, where is this leftist activity coming from? One of their own, socialist New York Times OpEd columnist Michelle Goldberg, reveals, in a New York Times opinion article that it’s the work of “The Millennial Socialists.”

“And, if you haven’t figured it out, many of those millennials were indoctrinated in school,” says Weber who cites a survey conducted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. 

The organization was created by a unanimous Act of Congress in 1993. It conducts periodic surveys of attitudes toward socialism and communism and its most recent poll found:

• Millennials would prefer to live in a socialist country (44%) than in a capitalist one (42%).
• Seven percent of those polled said they’d actually prefer to live in a communist country.

In reporting on its survey, the Foundation pointed out that there are more millennials than baby boomers in the U.S. and that they make up what is officially the largest generation in America. 

“To a large extent, they received their education in middle school, high school and college from teachers and professors that were liberal, at best,” Weber points out. “They helped shape the lives of their students, as they grew old enough to vote.”

Jake Zhu was the National News Editor of the Cornell Review in 2015 and wrote an article for the publication with the headline: I Am a Survivor of My Public Schools’ Liberal Brainwashing. As he put it, “the greatest threat to my intellectual cultivation throughout my years of attending Boston Public Schools is the prevalence of blatant left-wing indoctrination entrenched in the academic content.”