One-Third of Churchgoers and Half of Young Adults Prefer Socialism Over Capitalism
- Jessica Clark
- Nov 18
- 5 min read
A newly released Gallup survey shows that positive views of capitalism among Americans have fallen to their lowest point since tracking began in 2010. In 2025, 54 percent of U.S. adults view capitalism favorably, down from a relatively stable 60 percent range since 2021.
Views of socialism, meanwhile, have remained essentially flat overall. Gallup attributes the drop in capitalism’s image largely to a sharp partisan divide. The number of Democrats who now say they view socialism positively has spiked at 66 percent. Despite the flat line, Gallup polls from recent history and other studies present a trend worth zooming in on. Favorability towards socialism has risen drastically among young adults and churchgoers.
Young Adults Began to Prefer Socialism Over a Decade Ago
According to Gallup, since 2010, young people have viewed socialism as at least equally favorable to capitalism.
This is a trend that Gallup noticed in 2018 that remains consistent. In 2019, fully half of millennials expressed a positive view of socialism, compared to just 34 percent of Generation X and even lower numbers among older generations.
Dr. Jeffery Degner, Dean and Associate Professor of Economics at Cornerstone University, told Worldview Wire that socialist movements have historically targeted the young by highlighting real injustices while mislabeling them as inevitable fruits of “capitalism.”
“It has always been the case that the socialists have tried to recruit the young,” Degner said. “And have pointed at crony injustices, and mis-identified it as ‘Capitalism.’ Since the young are normally on the losing side of cronyism, and tend to be motivated by questions of justice - they are ripe for the socialists' deceptions.”
One in Three Churchgoers Now Prefer Socialism
A separate 2025 study from veteran researcher George Barna at Arizona Christian University’s Cultural Research Center looks specifically at America’s churches. Roughly one-third of regular churchgoers say they prefer socialism as an economic system. The preference of attendees under age 50 (millennials and Gen Z), is twice as high as among older believers.
Additional findings from Barna’s research include:
60 percent of churchgoers who prefer socialism also identify as LGBTQ.
College-educated attendees and those who, by Barna’s measures, “lack a biblical worldview” are significantly over-represented among socialism’s supporters.
Barna conducts an annual study through Arizona Christian University’s Cultural Research Center in which he assesses Biblical Theism specifically, stating that this is the minimum basis for understanding reality through a biblical worldview. This year, only 70 percent of individuals said they believed in a higher power at all. Forty percent of that pool believe that the God of the Bible could be one of the possibilities for what higher power(s) exist.
Additionally, Barna explains that those who participated readily admitted not having a biblical worldview or not knowing whether they had any worldview at all. Forty-five percent of adults stated they do not have or do not know if they have a worldview. This is an increase from 38 percent in 2023. Interestingly, college graduates presented a large portion of those who were aware that they have a worldview, a demographic also found largely represented in those who favor socialism.
Only 30 percent of churchgoing participants claim to have a biblical worldview. The Barna study notes that only 11 percent actually meet its criteria for a biblical worldview. Less than half believe this is a very important issue. Two years ago, it was 60 percent.
One worldview issue in particular sticks out as relates to the growing affirmation of socialism among churchgoers and young people. According to the Barna study, just 31 percent of churchgoers affirm that people are born with a sin nature and can be saved in Christ alone. In 2023, that number was 41 percent. The Ligonier Ministries State of Theology survey, which drills the pool down from churchgoers to self described evangelicals, puts that number around the same, with 64 percent of participants agreeing with the statement that humans are innocent before God and 53 percent affirming that people are basically good by nature.
Worldview Roundup
What does the belief that people are basically good have to do with the affirmation of socialism? Charlie Kirk summarized the key divide between Christianity and socialism this way:
On the Left wing Socialist side, they believe that human nature is generally good and that it's Capitalism and our system that has infected our decision making... I believe [as a Christian] as it says in the book of Genesis and repeated [throughout the Bible] that the heart of man is flawed from the beginning, that it's not taught by Capitalism, that [evil] is not [merely the result of] some sort of system... We, as Christians, generally believe that people are not so good. Marxists will believe that people are generally good. And from there come our two different worldviews.
Dr. Degner expands Charlie's explanation.
On this question, it's generally believed that we've got four options. One, people are good, so they're naturally generous, therefore, banning private property will reveal our generosity. Two, people are bad, so they're naturally selfish. Therefore heavy-handed government interventionism is needed to mitigate the harm. Three, people are good, so they're naturally generous. If this is the case, capitalism will work as each seeks to improve their lives without harming others. Final option, people are bad, so they're naturally selfish. In such a case capitalism has built-in mechanisms to prevent abuse. For me, I believe that four is the best option in a fallen world, because politicians and rulers are fallen people too! The idea that only a certain class of people is high-minded enough and altruistic enough to be so-called "public servants" as an entire class is frankly absurd.”
When people reject the doctrine that man is born sinful, yet see the results of sin in the world (i.e., economic injustice), they seek an alternative form of redemption. This results in a worldview where personal sins become systemic ones. When the system itself is deemed inherently evil, it must be dismantled. This worldview is now capturing disillusioned young adults who struggle to match their parents’ economic milestones and leading them to embrace big government as the remedy. Big government, then, has become the god of their salvation from sinful systems.
As Barna warned in his report, “When the Church loses confidence in the biblical diagnosis of the human condition, it inevitably begins looking for salvation in places the Bible never sanctioned.”
The converging data from Gallup and Barna suggest that generations of young believers, disillusioned by economic pressures and increasingly distant from historic Christian teaching on sin, salvation, and human nature, are embracing socialism not merely as policy preference but as a substitute gospel.