Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign inspired young voters to embrace democratic socialism, but Sanders’ advocacy for socialism alienated older voters born during the Cold War. The latter connected socialism with the atrocities inflicted by the Soviet Union. Voters who were born after the Cold War did not associate socialism with totalitarianism. They identified it with modern countries that provided extensive social services to their citizens.

Sanders’ 2016 campaign was unable to persuade older voters that democratic socialism was any different from Cold War-era socialism, but Sanders was able to sway younger voters when he stated that the United States should look to other countries that have done a better job of providing universal healthcare and free college.

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