A smaller share of Americans see capitalism and big business in a positive light than at any other time since polls began. At a slim majority, representing a 6 percent drop over the past four years, just 54 percent of people say they assume a good view of capitalism, according to a new survey by Gallup, with just 37 percent of respondents saying they think big business is a good thing. The distribution appears to diverge widely along party lines, with 74 percent of Republicans holding a positive assessment of capitalism versus 42 percent of Democrats, and a 60 percent to 17 percent split on the question of big business. Not that people are necessarily flocking to the left of the politico-economic spectrum, with only 39 percent of respondents saying they currently hold a positive view of socialism, at roughly the same rate since polling began in 2010. But the new Gallup survey does follow the results of another poll, published by The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, that found almost 70 percent of U.S. citizens think the American dream of working hard to get ahead “no longer holds true, or never did.”
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