More than any other generation, Millennials are willing to embrace socialism and other Independent or third parties. One poll found that 70% of Millennials would, in theory, be willing to vote for a socialist. In practice, the results seem to be much the same as Bernie Sanders is more popular among young people than seemingly any other group.

By why are Millennials comfortable embracing socialism? What do they find appealing?

Why Millennials are Comfortable with Socialism

It would have been unthinkable just twenty years ago (never mind 70s or 80s) for a self-avowed socialist candidate like Bernie Sanders to be a major player on the Democratic national stage. But, today, that is exactly what’s happening. Moreover, Bernie may even win! The 2020 election may be between the most non-traditional Republican in modern history (President Trump) versus the most non-traditional Democrat (Sanders). That, if nothing else, would make for an interesting race.

But all of this begs the question: Why the change? When did young people including not just Millennials, but also Gen Zers begin embracing socialistic ideas?

The answer, it seems, is that the rise in socialism popularity has coincided with American’s diminishing belief in the viability of capitalism. Whether it is a staggering amount of student loan debt, unemployment, credit card debt, or just an existential distaste for tax policies that seem to favor the rich, many young people are looking for new answers to these systemic issues. And while socialism is nothing new—it is, at least, new to many of them. In that lies the criticism that is often lobbed at Millennials and other young socialist supporters via older generation: That they are simply too young to understand the woes of what a socialist system truly looks like. It’s a classic example of, “You’ll understand when you get older.”

While the patronizing “You’ll understand when you get older,” argument is usually one to be dismissed—in this case there is, perhaps, something to be said for it. The fact of the matter is that fewer and fewer people are educated on political and social history, so it’s only natural that in the case of socialism some in the older generation may know a bit more simply because some of them have experienced or witnessed socialist systems.

On the other hand, there is a legitimate argument to be made about the possibility that the system of government that existed in the Soviet Union after WW2 and through to the end of the Cold War was not an accurate representation of the type of socialism that many Millennials are yearning for. The Soviet Union was, in fact, communist. But it was a form of communism commonly described as being based on Marx-style communism.

Nevertheless, the point isn’t whether socialism is good or bad, it’s more about what aspects of socialism young people find appealing—and whether or not those aspects can be applied to an otherwise capitalist system.

What is Appealing About Socialism?

The main thing that young people seem to find appealing about socialism has to do with the issue of fairness. Whether or not it’s fair for some people to live in debilitating poverty while others enjoy exuberant wealth. For Millennials, it’s less a question of practicality and more one of philosophy: Is capitalism, in other words, moralistically right? For older generations the answer seems to be that the philosophical musing aside, the point is that socialism doesn’t work. Well, only true answer to this debate lies, it seems in the hands of Bernie Sanders.