2026年8月16日 / 美国东部时间上午9:00 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
詹妮弗·德·平托、弗雷德·巴克斯 报道
大多数美国人认为自由市场体系是件好事。
美国人对社会主义整体持负面看法，资本主义的认可度更高。
但抛开这些观念不谈，如今大多数美国人表示，与上一代人相比，现在买房、养家糊口以及仅实现经济保障都变得更加困难。年轻人尤其容易感到机会更少。
因此大多数人还认为，当前美国经济体系在为人们提供晋升机会的运作方式上是不公平的。
这对政治产生了连锁反应，包括今年民主党初选战役中出现的情况：
民主党普通党员对社会主义的认可度确实高于资本主义。
这一切都发生在多年来美国人对经济评价不佳的背景下，似乎让许多人对更广泛的经济体系产生了质疑——或者至少开始关注不受常规意识形态束缚的解决方案。
这些公平观念与他们的自身处境以及对机会的感知有关。
年轻一代对机会的不安感更强。
原则上，大多数人认为自由市场对经济而言是积极的事物。
总体而言，人们对资本主义的看法比社会主义更积极，后者整体持负面评价（尽管许多人对两者都没有明确看法）。
虽然当前的收入结果显示出人们感知到的收入差距，但这也与人们对公平性的看法有关。
对社会主义的看法与人们对经济体系公平或不公平的感知相关。
人们如何定义“社会主义”？
不过，不同体系的标签可能有多种含义。因此我们邀请受访者用自己的话描述他们认为的“社会主义”是什么。
最常见的回答要么涉及政府管控，要么涉及政府所有制——即某种形式的政府干预。但在这背后，还有更多与结果而非过程相关的回答：平等、公平，以及总体上帮助他人的理念。
共和党人和无党派人士更常提到政府管控。
而民主党人则倾向于将其与平等、公平和公共服务联系起来。
这些观点如何在两党中体现
与整体公众不同，民主党人大多对社会主义持积极态度，对社会主义的好感度高于资本主义。
社会主义在拥有大学学历的民主党人中更受认可，而非学历较低的民主党人。前者更有可能认为最富有的群体与中产阶级之间存在差距，也更不太可能认为民主党“有作为”。
年轻民主党人比年长民主党人、白人民主党人比其他种族群体的民主党人，更倾向于对社会主义持有更积极的看法。
特别是，民主党人认为社会主义会改善他们自身的财务状况，而总体而言，资本主义会让他们的处境更糟。
民主社会主义
“民主社会主义”这一特定标签被半数民主党人视为积极标签，年轻民主党人和更自由派的民主党人持积极看法的比例更高。
不过，这一标签对其他民主党人来说并非负面，更多是中性的。
“民主党建制派”这一术语在民主党内部并未招致太多负面评价——大多数人认为它是积极的，或持中立态度。对该术语持负面看法的民主党人，不太可能认为自己的政党有作为或强大。
另一个凸显民主党内部分歧的问题是：民主党应该有多进步？
约有一半人认为，政党已经达到了他们期望的进步程度。
约有一半人认为，政党的进步程度不够（这些人更倾向于自由派，对社会主义的看法也相对更积极）。
认为政党进步程度不足的民主党人，不太可能认为民主党在经济问题上“非常符合”他们的观点。
民主党当前的方向？
这也关乎整体情感倾向。
当民主党提出经济政策时，普通党员希望政策看起来是在进行重大变革，而非小幅调整——即便小幅调整更容易推行。
其次，相较于政策细节，人们更看重整体印象。
他们希望感受到政党在为他们而奋斗。
公众如何看待两大政党？
民主党和共和党都需要在经济和文化两大议题上拉近与选民的距离。
在每个议题上，他们都能获得至少一部分选民的支持，但支持度并不高。
不过民主党并未在其中一个议题上比另一个议题更受拖累。超过一半的选民至少在一定程度上认同民主党。
共和党方面：
共和党人明确支持资本主义。
尽管略占多数的共和党人，以及大多数民主党人和无党派人士，都支持政府实施价格管制。
同样，约有一半的选民至少在一定程度上认同共和党。
极端与软弱
大多数选民认为民主党是软弱的。大多数选民也不认为他们有作为。
超过三分之一的民主党人认为自己的政党软弱，他们主要表示，政党的进步程度未达他们的预期。
但大多数选民认为共和党是极端的——同时也认为他们没有作为。
由年轻人担任公职？
本届初选季中，一些现任议员在竞选失利，有时是输给了更年轻的挑战者。
美国人确实认为，让更多年轻人进入公职会让情况变得更好。许多人还认为，更多温和派人士进入公职也会带来积极效果。
民主党人尤其认为，若有更多年轻人担任公职，政治环境会变得更好。
本次哥伦比亚广播公司新闻/舆观民调于2026年8月12日至14日进行，调查样本为具有全国代表性的2287名美国成年人。样本根据性别、年龄、种族、教育程度进行加权，以符合全国成年人人口结构，数据基于美国人口普查局美国社区调查和当前人口调查，以及2024年总统选举投票结果。误差幅度为±2.6个百分点。
CBS News poll on whether Democrats split over socialism, and how Americans see parties in today’s economy
August 16, 2026 / 9:00 AM EDT / CBS News
By Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus
Most Americans believe a free market system is a good thing.
Americans are net-negative on socialism. Capitalism is better-liked.
But those ideas aside, right now they say it’s harder now to do things like buy a house, raise a family, and to just feel financially secure than for the last generation. Younger people are especially apt to feel opportunities are fewer.
So most also call the current U.S. economic system unfair, in terms of the way it works for chances to get ahead .
That has downstream effects on politics, including those seen in this year’s Democratic primary battles:
The Democratic rank-and-file does have a higher view of socialism than capitalism.
It’s all set against a years-long backdrop of Americans’ bad ratings of the economy, and appears to have many questioning the broader system – or at least eyeing solutions unconstrained by the usual ideologies.
Those fairness views are related to how well they’re doing and also to perceived opportunities.
There’s more unease about opportunities among younger generations.
In principle, the free market is seen by most as a positive thing for the economy.
Capitalism on balance is seen more positively than socialism, which is net negative. (Though many have no opinion of either.)
While the current outcomes show a perceived income gap, it’s also linked to views of fairness.
Socialism views are related to perceived fairness or unfairness of the economic system.
What do people think “socialism” means?
Labels of systems, though, can mean many different things. So we asked people to tell us in their own words what they think “socialism” means.
The most frequent responses were about either government control or government ownership — some form of government involvement. But behind that were responses more related to views of an outcome than a process: equality, fairness, and generally the idea of helping people.
Government control is mentioned more often by Republicans and independents.
Democrats, in turn, tended to say equality and fairness and public services.
How these views are getting expressed in the parties
Unlike the public overall, Democrats are mostly positive on socialism and have a more favorable impression of it than of capitalism.
Socialism finds more positive views among Democrats with college degrees than those without. They’re even more likely to perceive a gap between the richest and the middle class. And less likely to say the Democratic Party is “effective.”
Younger Democrats more than older ones, and White Democrats more than other racial groups tend to have more favorable views of socialism.
In particular, Democrats feel socialism would make their own finances better and that on balance, capitalism makes them worse.
Democratic socialist
The specific label of democratic socialist is seen as positive by half the party — more by younger and more liberal Democrats.
It’s not negative to other Democrats though. It’s more neutral.
The term “Democratic establishment” is not met with much negativity within the party — most call it a positive or are neutral about it. Democrats who view the term negatively are less inclined to see their party as effective or strong.
Another item that marks differences within the Democrats: Just how progressive should the party be?
To about half, it’s as progressive as they want.
To about half, it’s not progressive enough. (They’re more liberal and have a relatively more positive impression of socialism, too.)
The Democrats who say the party is not progressive enough are less likely to say the party agrees with their views “a lot” on economic issues.
What’s the Democratic Party’s direction now?
It’s also about general affect.
When the Democrats do present economic policies, their rank and file want those to seem like making big changes, not smaller ones — even if the smaller ones would be easier to do.
And then, it’s about overall impression even more than policy details.
They want to feel like the party is fighting for them.
How does the public view the parties?
The Democrats, like the Republicans, have some work to do matching the public in two major areas, economic and cultural issues.
On each facet, they find at least a little, but not a lot of agreement from voters.
But the Democrats are not hindered more by one than the other. Just over half agree with them at least a little.
On the GOP side:
Republicans show a strong voice favoring capitalism.
Though a slight majority, along with most Democrats and independents, would be okay with government price controls.
And about half agree with Republicans at least a little, as well.
Extreme and weak
The Democratic Party is seen by most voters as weak. Nor do most voters describe them as effective.
Over a third of Democrats describe their own party as weak. They mainly say the party is not as progressive as they would want it to be.
But for its part, the Republican Party is described by most voters as extreme — and also not effective.
Younger people in elected office?
This primary season has seen some incumbents losing contests, at times to younger challengers.
And Americans do feel having more young people in office would make things better. Many also feel that way about more moderates.
Democrats in particular think politics would be better with more younger people in office.
This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,287 U.S. adults interviewed between August 12-14, 2026. The sample was weighted to be representative of adults nationwide according to gender, age, race, and education, based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as 2024 presidential vote. The margin of error is ±2.6 points.