Citizens' Daily Lobby

A recent poll by Democracy Corps, reported at TPM, finds that 55% of likely voters believe that “socialist” describes President Obama as either “well” or “very well.”    Findings like this underscore the effectiveness of the GOP media machine.    Having hugely popular news networks devoted 24/7 to right-wing messaging works.    The answer would likely have been the same if the test word was “communist,” or even “fascist.”  After all, those terms get thrown around almost interchangeably by right-wing talk-show hosts, and “nazi” sometimes gets thrown in for good measure.

It would have been interesting had the pollsters asked for the definition of the word “socialist.”  I’m betting most of that 55% couldn’t accurately define what a socialist is.   If 1/4 of US citizens polled do not know the US fought Great Britain for independence, anything is possible, even likely.