Politics

Poll: Tons Of Millennials Love Communism, Think Bush Was Worse Than Stalin

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Blake Neff Reporter
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More than one in five U.S. millennials would be open to backing a communist candidate, and a third believe George W. Bush killed more people than Joseph Stalin, according to a new poll released Monday.

The poll, commissioned by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and carried out by YouGov, surveyed Americans of all ages about their attitudes towards communism, socialism, and the American economic system in general.

Overall, the poll found, Americans remain broadly hostile to socialism and communism, even though 67 percent of the populace believes rich people don’t pay “their fair share” and 52 percent believe America’s economic system works against them.

But American millennials are more sympathetic towards communism, the survey found. While 57 percent of respondents overall had a “very unfavorable” view of communism, only 38 percent of millennials felt the same way. Close to 20 percent said they were likely to vote for a self-described communist, while barely 50 percent said they were likely to vote for a self-described capitalist.

Millennials were also more likely to take a favorable view of communist leaders. Twenty-five percent view Soviet revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin positively. Eighteen percent were favorable towards Chinese dictator Mao Zedong, despite a body count in the tens of millions. Thirty-four percent were favorable to Karl Marx, and 37 percent were favorable to revolutionary and T-shirt fixture Che Guevara.

A full third of millennials believe U.S. president George W. Bush is is responsible for more deaths than Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Stalin, of course, killed millions during his 29-year run as the chief political figure in the USSR. Between two and seven million people were killed in the Ukraine thanks to a policy of state-engineered famine, while millions more were executed or died in labor camps following various political purges.

Notably, despite his infamous purges, Stalin enjoys a 12 percent approval rating with millennials.

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