Wired Word Lesson of the Week
Topic for Sunday, March 29, 2026:
Surveys Suggest Attitudinal Shift Regarding Capitalism, Socialism: We will use recent surveys on how Americans view various economic systems to explore what our faith teaches about the purpose of government, wealth distribution, and property ownership.
In the News
Individuals are encouraged to read the news below related to this topic before the March 29th bible study to be prepared for an engaging conversation:
According to a Fox News survey released March 5, American voters are divided in their views of capitalism, with 51% saying it's working very or somewhat well, and 49% saying it's not working very or at all well. Nearly four in ten (38%) favor moving away from capitalism toward socialism, an increase of six percentage points since 2022.
Voters most supportive of capitalism include Republican men (87% say it's working very/somewhat well), MAGA supporters (85%), and Republicans ages 45+ (81%). Those less enthusiastic about capitalism include very liberal voters (79% say capitalism is working not very/not at all well), Democratic women (79%), and Democrats under age 45 (72%).
A majority of survey respondents (61%) indicated they did not favor a move toward socialism, including 75% or more of Republicans, conservatives, men over age 45, and voters ages 65 and up, while more than half of Democrats, black voters, and voters under age 35 say they prefer moving away from capitalism. In July 2025, Samuel J. Abrams, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, reported that "A 2025 survey by the Cato Institute and YouGov found that 62% of Americans aged 18-29 say they hold a 'favorable view' of 'socialism.'"
The Pew Research organization's most recent survey found that fewer Americans view either capitalism or socialism as positively as they did in 2019. In an August 2025 Gallup poll measuring American attitudes regarding capitalism and socialism, 54% held positive views toward capitalism, a drop of six percentage points since 2021. Gallup's survey showed 39% positive and 57% negative toward socialism. In other respects, Gallup's poll results were similar to those of the Fox News survey, although Gallup poll respondents did reveal greater positivity toward free enterprise (81%) and small business (95%) than toward big business (37% positive/62% negative), three prominent features of capitalism.
Jay L. Zagorsky and H. Sami Karaca of Boston University offer definitions of the three major economic systems operating in the world today: (1) Capitalism emphasizes the private ownership of resources and the means of production, driven by profit and market competition, with minimal government intervention. (2) Communism ...  advocates for a classless society where all property is communally owned ... wealth is distributed according to need ... which aims to eliminate inequality and oppression. (3) Socialism ... focuses on the collective or state ownership of key industries and resources ... allow[ing] for some private enterprise, with the aim of reducing inequality through social welfare programs and ... a more equitable distribution of wealth.
Zagorsky and Karaca add that different countries may also implement some characteristics of one or more of these systems to create "what economists call a 'mixed economy,'" to address problems such as market failures, environmental harm and income inequality.
Emily Stewart, senior correspondent at Business Insider, wrote recently about how American capitalism is changing from "a mostly laissez-faire approach from the government [in which] Markets pick winners and losers" to "a much more interventionist" approach on the part of the federal government. She writes that critics of government "taking a more active role in steering the economy" express concern over "the potential for politically biased decision-making, the appearance of crony capitalism, and possible market distortions." They wonder "how the government will wield its equity-derived power" and for whose benefit.
The frustration some people have with capitalism stems from its failure to live up to what it seemed to promise them, as income inequality and debt grew, jobs and retirement savings disappeared, and home ownership became an increasingly unattainable goal.
Abrams writes that "when young Americans say they support 'socialism,' they are rarely endorsing the nationalization of industry or centralized planning. They're expressing a desire for greater fairness, stronger social protections, and institutional accountability. In practice, many favor policies such as universal health care, climate investment, affordable housing and debt relief -- not the abolition of private property."
Justin Callais and Clay Routledge of Archbridge Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, wrote this month that a majority of the 2,000 Americans participating in their latest Progress Pulse survey conducted in partnership with The Harris Poll favor "free markets, private companies, and entrepreneurship over government coordination and planning." That view held for both Republicans (76%) and Democrats (60%), as well as for nearly 60% of adults under 25.
"A belief in economic freedom that cuts across party lines could be the basis for more productive conversations about how to expand opportunity and remove barriers to entrepreneurship and social mobility," Callais and Routledge suggest.
More on this story can be found at these links: