Transcription
Justin Haskins. He is the president of Our Republic, stopstopping-socialism.com. He's the editor-in-chief and also a co-author of several books, uh, with me. Welcome to the program, Justin. How are you?
I'm doing well, Glenn. How are you?
Uh, well, I was better until you contacted me on vacation and sent me this disturbing poll. Uh, I'm, I'm in bed at night and I'm reading this and I'm like, "Oh dear, what?" My wife's like, "I told you not to check your email." And I'm like, "I didn't know Jason Justin was going to write to me." Uh, Justin, uh, tell me first of all, before we get into it, how secure is the sample size on this poll?
Uh, it's a very good sample size. 1,200 people nationally, only 18 to 39 year olds. And we, we did that deliberately so that we could get a sample size large enough so we could pull out valid responses just from younger people. So the whole purpose of this poll is to find out what younger people, 18 to 39, think. Voters only and people who say that they're likely to vote. So we're not talking about just people out in the public. We're not talking about registered voters. We're talking about people who are registered to vote and say they're likely to vote.
So let's go over some of the things that you have already released to the press and that is in the survey, 18-39 year old likely voters, uh, the Trump approval rating is a lot higher than you thought it would be, right?
Yeah. Yeah. 48% had a, had a, a positive approval rating of Donald Trump, which for young people is very high. So that's, that's the good news. That's the only good news we're going to talk about.
I was going to say we might have to come back to that first question several times. Uh, do you believe the United States is a fundamentally good, evil, or morally mixed country?
Yep. This one is not too bad. Uh, it's not great, but fundamentally good was 28%, which is, which is low, but mixed was 50% and fundamentally evil was 17%. And I think mixed at 50% is not an unreasonable, crazy response. I, I can see why all sorts of people might choose that. So I don't think there's anything terrible here. It depends on what you mean by mixed. Fundamentally good at 28%. It's a little low. Fundamentally evil at 17% is a little disturbing, but it's not, it's not insane. The insane stuff comes a little bit later.
Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Major industries. Got talk about the, uh, crazy stuff coming later. Here it is. Major industries like healthcare, energy, and big tech should be nationalized and give more control and equity to the people.
Yeah, this was, this was the really, I mean, this one floored me. If you look at strongly agree, somewhat agree for that statement you just read, it's over 75% of young people, including, including the vast majority of Republicans, young Republicans and people who identify as conservatives. It was pretty similar, in fact, how young Republicans responded compared to liberals and, uh, independents and Democrats. They all pretty much agreed that yes, the government, the federal government should be nationalizing whole industries to make things, uh, more equitable for people.
As the guy who is the, um, uh, chief editor and chief of stopping socialism, what's the problem with nationalizing energy and healthcare? What happens typically?
Well, uh, usually there's blood in the streets when you do enough, when you do too much of that. Um, you know, socialism, communism have been spectacularly horrible, uh, throughout the course of human history across every society, culture, religion. Uh, doesn't matter when or what kind of technological advancements you have. When you, the more you collectivize a society, the more authoritarian that society gets, the less you have individual freedom and the worse the economy usually is for regular people. So, it's been a catastrophe across the board. Everyone listening to this audience probably knows that. Um, and so the idea that you would have three-quarters of young voters, so remember these people are going to be the primary voters in 10 to 20 years saying, "Yeah, you know what? We should be nationalizing whole industries, whole industries," um, is so disturbing and I don't think that conservatives, uh, are understand how deeply rooted some of these ideas are with younger people. Uh, and I will tell you, I think some conservatives are walking a very dangerous line and, uh, you know, coming up with a little mix of, of everything. Um, and, um, and I think we have to be very careful on, uh, on what is being said and who our friends and allies are. Uh, by the way, that number again is 39% strongly agree. 37% somewhat agree. Somewhat disagree, 12%. Strongly disagree, 5%. That is disastrous.
Now try this one on. These are the ones that have been, we got new ones. These are just a few of the ones that were released late last week. The next presidential election is in 2028. Would you like to see a Democratic Socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election?
Yep. 53% said yes. 53% of, of all voters said yes. And the most shocking thing was that 35% of those who we polled who said they voted for Donald Trump in 2024 said that they want to see a socialist win in 2028. And so about a third of Republicans, 35% of, uh, Trump voters, 43% of people who call themselves conservatives. So even on the right, among younger people, there is a large group that want a socialist president in 2028?
And the reason, the reason is is tied in to the next few questions. Okay, so here's question five. Among the following options, which best describes your biggest reason you would like to see a Democratic Socialist candidate?
31% said housing costs are too high. 12% taxes are too low for corporations. 11% taxes are too low for wealthy individuals. 8% want single-payer healthcare systems. 17% say the economy unfairly benefits older, wealthier Americans. 15% says the economy unfairly benefits large corporations. 5% some other reason and 2% unsure.
Now, let's get into the new polls that, uh, we're breaking, uh, today. Question six, how would you describe your current financial situation?
Yeah. Uh, only 24% said that they're doing well. Uh, 34, 38% said getting by, struggling, 29%. 7% said in crisis. So if you add up just getting by, struggling, and in crisis, that's 74% said that they're, you know, just barely getting by at best. And I think that explains a lot of the other negative responses we've seen so far in this poll and the ones that are going to come pretty soon here.
Uh, seven. Which best describes your personal life situation? You are thriving. You're doing well with a few ups and downs. You feel stuck and uncertain. You feel lonely, disconnected, or emotionally drained. You're in a crisis and feel most negative about your personal life.
Yeah. About a third said, uh, that they feel stuck or uncertain, lonely, or that they're in a crisis. That's a third of young people say, say that. I mean, that's, that's not great. Only 19% said thriving. 46% said they have ups and downs, which I think is, you know, not too shocking. But the, the idea that there's a third of American voters out there who feel like they can't buy a home and they feel like they are lonely and that they're in crisis and that life is just not going well at all for them. Again, I think that's, that's driving a lot of the support for socialism where you have 53% of these people saying, "Yeah, I want a socialist president in 2028." So socialism is not the answer. It is the symptom. It's the symptom of what people are feeling right now and they, they don't know any other, they don't, nobody's presenting them with anything other than, you know, Republican Democrat bull crap. Um, and socialists are coming at it from a completely new angle, or so the, you, the youth think. It's the oldest and most failed system of all time. Um, but they're seeing this as a solution that is different than what the party, uh, you know, the Republican Democrats are offering, even though the Democrats are offering the socialism thing.
Uh, number eight, do you think the American economy is unfair to young people?
62% say yes. Yeah. And 27% said no. And I think that this really gets at the heart of what the issue is here. When you look at the reasons, when you, when you look at the detailed data of the poll, what you to try to find out if there's an association, uh, between some kind of demographic or response question about people's lives and their support for socialism to see if there's a correlation there between something that's happening and whether someone's a socialist or not. The one of the top correlations, connections is if people think the economy is unfair and if they're having trouble buying a home or they don't think they can buy a home or that's one of their reasons for supporting socialism. So, in other words, there's this fairness issue and if it's not even about inequality, it's not about, it's not about, well, they have too much wealth. They feel like the system is, to use a Trump term, rigged. And throughout the data, that's what we see over and over and over again is lots of young people say the economy is rigged. For older people, for wealthier people, for corporations, it's rigged. And if they say, "Yeah, I think it's rigged." You know, then they're more likely to say, "Yeah, I want a socialist." And I also think this is why the same group has a relatively high approval rating of Donald Trump. It's, it's because the reason that a lot of young people like Trump in the poll is that he's not part of the establishment. And I think I don't think that they, I think a lot of young people who voted for Trump and who like Trump, they didn't do it because they like free market pro-liberty policies. And that's not a good thing. But I, but I don't think that's why they did it. I think a lot of them voted for Trump and support him because he's not the establishment. And that's what they don't like. They want to blow the establishment up.
I, so my, Justin, my sample size is my two young adults, my two children, and they're like talking to me and saying, "Dad, I will never be able to own a home." Looking at the prices, looking at interest rates. They're like, "I can't even afford to pay rent at an apartment." Mhm. And they, they don't know what to do. And so they're looking at on like TikTok and they're like, "Who's this mom don guy?" This sounds interesting. They bring this to me. They grew up listening to me indoctrinating them their entire lives. They're looking at other voices like on TikTok. Are we just not being loud enough?
No, we're not. We're not, um, connecting with them. They're, we're not, I, I feel like they don't feel they're being heard. Um, and we are speaking to them in red, white, and blue. And that means nothing. The Statue of Liberty means nothing to them. Uh, Ellis Island means nothing to them. The flag means nothing to them. It's all partisan politics. It's all, they're all symbols of really the two parties, you know, uh, and in America, they don't relate to at all. I think that's, that's our biggest problem in not being able to break through.
To your point, question nine, how confident are you that you will own a home at some point in the next 10 years?
29% say they already own a home, which I found interesting. That's, I think a pretty high number for somebody who is, you know, uh, 18 to 34 years old, 39, 39, um, you know, there's a lot of 18 to 30 that I, I didn't own a home in when I was, you know, 30. Just had gotten a home when I was 30. Um, but go ahead with the rest of that poll.
Yeah. So, so then, uh, 21% said discouraged, but, you know, somewhat hopeful. 12% said not confident. 10% said you were convinced you would never own a home. 3% not sure. So, if you add up the negative responses, it's around 43% that gave that response. But I think that again, 29% you already own a home and 25% you're confident you will own a home is still good. It just, these, these other numbers have, you know, discouraged but hopeful you'll own a home. Who's discouraging that? And how is that being discouraged? Um, you know, uh, only 12, let's see, 12, 22, 25% are not sure they're ever going to own a home. That's too high of a number. But, um, I, I don't think that's completely dismal.
Now, a completely dismal, uh, answer to the question, would you support a law that would confiscate America's excess wealth, including things like second homes, luxury cars, and private boats in order to help young people buy a home for the first time? Are you for or against that? There's some disturbing, uh, results. They get very disturbing going from here on. Um, we got two of these, uh, today and then more tomorrow. We'll spend more time with you tomorrow, uh, Justin. But would you support a law that would confiscate Americans' excess wealth, including things like second homes, luxury cars, and private boats in order to help young people buy a home for the first time? Get the results.
Yeah. 25% strongly support that. 30% somewhat support it. So 55% in total for support. Only 38% strongly or somewhat opposed, with just 20% saying strongly opposed. So the vast majority now is, is supporting this communistic policy to, to confiscate people's wealth in order to help people, younger people buy homes, which is, is in line with that question we, that we talked about earlier where it said, you know, three-quarters of these respondents wanted to nationalize whole industries to make things fairer. So, it's, it's all about, it's all about this sense of unfairness that exists and they feel like young people feel like the system is rigged. They feel like neither party is on their side and they want to blow the whole thing up by just taking wealth away from people, nationalizing whole industries and redistributing it all. And guess what? That's basically the democratic socialist platform. So, it's not a surprise that that's a, that's becoming increasingly more popular with these young people. And I don't think that free market, pro-liberty people are dealing with with this in in a real way. In fact, I think that a lot of us believe have believed recently that the wind is at our backs and we're actually winning more and more young people over and that isn't what's happening according to the poll results.
Uh, it explains why the Democrats have not moved their position off of the socialism stuff, doesn't it? Um, we keep saying why it's not working with anybody. It is working. It is working with, uh, people under, uh, 39. Uh, 18 to 39 year olds are hearing this message and are embracing this message.