The most even split comes from those under 30, with 37% preferring Capitalism 33% Socialism and 30% not sure. As people grow older and actually experience the reality of living, the support for Socialism drops as the support for Capitalism. 49% of 30-somethings support Capitalism with 27% support for Socialism. The support for Socialism drops to 13% with people over 40. Another breakdown is by whether one is an investor, which investors favoring Capitalism by a margin of 5 to 1, with 40% of non investors favoring Capitalism and 25% favoring Socialism. The strongest support for Capitalism is ideological with Republicans supporting it by a whopping 11 to 1 margin. Democrats break out at about 39% supporting Capitalism and about 30% supporting Socialism. Independents, or those with no party affiliation support Capitalism over Socialism by a 48% to 21% margin.

At first glance, such news would indicate an alarming rate of support for Socialism among the American people. This coupled with a December 2008 Rasmussen poll which indicates that voters support greater government regulation of business by a 52% to 35% margin with 13% not sure, seems to give support to those who seek to expand the role of government in the economy. This, however is not the case when questions are posed which bring up the level of trust Americans have for government.

By a 70% to a 15%, Americans favor a free market to one managed by government with 15% not sure. 48% of Americans are worried that the government will do too much to address our current economic crisis, while 41% are worried that it will do too little and 11% are not sure which is a bigger concern. 65% believe that government and big business work together in a way that hurts the consumer and the private investors, while 15% don not think so and 20% are not sure. Again, the strongest support for the free market approach comes from Republicans.

What can the supporters of limited government take away from all of this. First of all, it appears that Americans are far less supportive of government managing the economy than they are for “Socialism” as an abstract concept. Another thing that should be noted is that the nature of the question determines the level of support for free market principles expressed in answers given. When asked if businesses should be regulated more, a small majority answers yes. Giving the media coverage of the current financial mess, it is surprising that these numbers are not higher in favor of greater regulation. The fact of the matter is that, despite a constant media drumbeat against the free market, an overwhelming number of Americans are opposed to a government managed economy. By a majority almost as big, Americans believe that the government is more likely to collude with big business against their interest than to look after their interest. By a plurality, Americans are worried that the government will do too much in response to the current economic crisis.

In sum, Americans still have a healthy distrust for government action. Those who support economic freedom need to seize upon this instinctive distrust and educate the public that government only has competence in a very limited area and that once it strays from that area it is more likely to cause problems than to fix them. We need to show how government intervention has either caused or aggravated many of the problems that so-called experts propose to solve via political means.