--- title: How Bernie Sanders Changed the Word 'Socialism' in the U.S. description: Younger voters already view the term more favorably. canonical: https://time.com/4269555/bernie-sanders-socialism-views-millennials-survey/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-23T18:49:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:49:51.028Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Bernie Sanders Changed the Word 'Socialism' in the U.S. og:description: Younger voters already view the term more favorably. og:url: https://time.com/4269555/bernie-sanders-socialism-views-millennials-survey/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56dafea06dbeaaa3/69888c42cd1bbac11a6fff56/gettyimages-509206168.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Bernie Sanders og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Bernie Sanders Changed the Word 'Socialism' in the U.S. twitter:description: Younger voters already view the term more favorably. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56dafea06dbeaaa3/69888c42cd1bbac11a6fff56/gettyimages-509206168.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Bernie Sanders Changed the Word 'Socialism' in the U.S. > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=cfa38e7c-5c12-4133-975a-d0037dd59e80&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Bernie Sanders Changed the Word 'Socialism' in the U.S. [Watch (HLS stream): How Bernie Sanders Changed the Word 'Socialism' in the U.S.](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JUAmwPHb.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2016-03-21. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders may not win the Democratic presidential nominee this year, but he has already changed how American politics relates to the word "socialism."_ by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Mar 23, 2016 6:49 PM UTC Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders may not win the Democratic presidential nominee this year, but he has already changed how American politics relates to the word "socialism." by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Mar 23, 2016 6:49 PM UTC Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders may not win the Democratic presidential nominee this year, but he has already changed how American politics relates to the word “socialism.” A self-described “democratic socialist,” Sanders has not backed down from the word in his presidential campaign, despite criticism from Republicans and questions from journalists about it. But that’s not hurt him as it might have candidates of years past, in part because younger voters have a different impression of socialism than those who grew up during the Cold War. In [one recent survey by YouGov](https://today.yougov.com/news/2016/01/28/democrats-remain-divided-socialism/), voters aged 18 to 29 were the only age group to report more favorable than unfavorable opinions of socialism, by 43% to 26%. Watch the above video to learn more about how that might affect U.S. politics in the future. ## Transcript [00:00] So you call yourself a Democratic socialist. How can any [00:03] kind of socialist win a general election in the United [00:05] States? Well, we're gonna win- Even if Sanders loses, [00:08] what he will have done is open up some space on the left [00:12] for people to run that kind of campaign. So I think it there's [00:16] a young, ambitious politician out there, they might look at [00:19] some of the things Bernie Sanders is saying and see how [00:21] they resonate With millennials and say, that's a path that I [00:24] should start considering. For decades, the [00:28] word socialist and variants on it were taken for granted [00:32] as obvious epithets in American politics. You didn't [00:37] want to be called a socialist. You didn't want your policies [00:40] Used to be called socialist. With the collapses of a union, [00:43] China is really the only major socialist country like that. [00:47] And it's moved towards more of a market economy. So [00:51] really the only example of socialism that most young [00:54] people today can think of are countries like Denmark and [00:58] Norway. In Finland where it's Democratic socialism which [01:02] really just means a healthy safety net for citizens [01:07] and higher taxation rates. American politics moves [01:11] very slowly and then all at once. Young [01:15] voters are the bellweather of the future of our politics. [01:19] [ MUSIC ] They don't necessarily turn out in large numbers. [01:22] But all old voters were young voters once. [01:26] They're getting older every year and they are already [01:29] changing things like workplace norms, purchasing habits, [01:32] and how people use the Internet and take selfies. In [01:37] showing their enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders, their starting [01:39] to change a little bit of the conversation. But a few years [01:42] from now when they're displacing some of the older voters, [01:46] I think you'll start to see a much bigger influence. 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