Abby McCloskey, Bloomberg Opinion, July 31, 2026

“Most Americans don’t want a state-run economy. But increasingly, there’s not a political party that reflects this mainline view.

On the left, democratic socialism is gaining traction. Two-thirds of Democrats view socialism positively, according to Gallup. On the right, although the vast majority of GOP voters (74%) still support capitalism, a belief in free markets has not guided Republican policymaking in the MAGA era.

It won’t surprise you that as a center-right conservative whose career spans the Koch Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, my skepticism of socialist economics and its promises is deep-rooted. But my primary concern is what this trend does to our withering political health. If the only politically viable alternative to MAGA populism is democratic socialism, where does that leave the 54% of Americans who view free-market capitalism favorably?”