Make no mistake, way too many young Americans are suffering from an acute case of democratic socialist shiny object syndrome. From Seattle to New York City, young Americans are voting for democratic socialists at a resounding rate.

While much ink has been spilt trying to garner why so many young people are infatuated with democratic socialism, the answer may be more obvious than most think.

Based on a new poll from Rasmussen Reports and The Heartland Institute, you can blame the parents for the fact that more than half of young likely voters want to see a democratic socialist win the White House in 2028.

The poll, which surveyed 1,496 likely voters aged 18 to 39 from across the country, found that 27 percent said their parents or guardians most influenced them to support democratic socialism.

Incredibly, 54 percent of respondents said their parents or guardians, to the best of their recollection when they were growing up, had a favorable view toward democratic socialism. On the other hand, less than 20 percent said their parents had a “very unfavorable” view.

I must admit that I am shocked to see such a large percentage of parents holding a positive view of democratic socialism given the fact that socialism has failed every time it has been implemented.

However, today’s parents, for the most part, have probably not learned just how awful socialism truly is. I bet many of these parents did not receive a proper education about the history of socialism given that public schools have generally presented socialism/collectivism as a morally righteous, fair, and equitable system for the past several decades. In the meantime, many of those same schools have derided free-market capitalism and labeled individualism immoral and selfish.

With this being the case, it is unsurprising that 52 percent of young Americans also said their teachers or professors held a favorable view of democratic socialism whereas less than a quarter said their teachers or professors held an unfavorable view.

American classrooms, I hate to say, have become socialist indoctrination centers wherein radical leftist teachers preach socialist propaganda to susceptible young minds.

I say this because I lived it. Many years ago, after I graduated from college, I decided to be a history teacher. When I was earning my master’s degree at a nationally known teacher college in Chicago, I was shocked to find my professors were more interested in pushing socialist/collectivist rhetoric than they were in making sure we were prepared to be good teachers.

I kid you not. To my chagrin, we spent more time discussing wealth inequality than we did in how to connect with students. Key skills like classroom management, lesson planning and preparation, and all else to a back seat to ensure that we got a full dose of socialist propaganda.

We were encouraged to be political in the classroom, to push the line that government is good while business is bad.

I think the chickens have come to roost. These pro-socialist professors have infiltrated generations of teachers. They have miseducated millions of Americans over the years.

Now, many of the parents who have been misinformed in public schools have children of their own and they are perpetuating the cycle of ignorance when it comes to socialism upon their own kids. Nearly 60 percent of those aged 18 to 24 and well north of 50 percent of those aged 25 to 29 expressed their support that a democratic socialist win the 2028 presidential election, including about a quarter of self-identified Republicans and 42 percent of moderates.

Fortunately, there does appear to be a silver lining. Middle-class households, those earning $100,000 to $200,000 per year, are one of the few cohorts that are not enamored with socialist mania. Perhaps that is because these people realize they will foot the bill for the so-called free stuff because they know that nothing is free and socialism is doomed to fail.

Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.

Image: Public Domain