Youth Favorability Toward Socialism Persists Amid Declining Historical Knowledge and Faculty Imbalances

Multiple independent surveys document elevated favorability toward socialism among younger Americans, alongside gaps in knowledge of 20th-century communist regimes. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation's annual YouGov polls from 2019-2020 found that 72% of Gen Z and 62% of Millennials reported not learning about communist regimes in K-12 education, with 49% of Gen Z holding a favorable view of socialism (up from prior years) and notable percentages viewing communism positively or preferring it in some contexts. More recent data reinforces the pattern: a 2025 Cato/YouGov survey showed 62% of adults under 30 with a favorable view of socialism and 34% for communism, while a CNBC/Generation Lab poll indicated 46% of 18-34 year-olds favorable toward Democratic Socialism. Official NAEP results confirm a five-point decline in eighth-grade U.S. history scores from 2018 to 2022 (to 258), continuing a downward trend since 2014, with parallel civics declines. Faculty political composition shows pronounced left-leaning skews, with surveys indicating 50%+ liberal identification and heavy Democratic registration or preference (e.g., 60% Democrats in one 2024 Inside Higher Ed poll). A 1997 New York Times opinion by historian Tony Judt highlighted the Black Book of Communism's estimate of nearly 100 million deaths under communist regimes, underscoring the documented historical record now less emphasized in some educational settings. These trends intersect with broader debates on how civics and economics curricula shape generational economic perceptions, independent of any single institutional narrative.