News a week ago on 57% of Democrats approving of socialism over capitalism may be much ado about nothing…if those polled weren’t informed of taxes needed to fund it.

According to Gallup “The question wording does not define “socialism” or “capitalism” but simply asks respondents whether their opinion of each is positive or negative.”

We also doubt respondents knew socialism’s definition: “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” Good-bye free markets.

And an analysis of costs for socialist programs (healthcare, job-guarantee, free college) would be about $42 trillion over 10 years, which means everyone’s taxes have to go up.

As with Gallup ‘question wording’ not defining socialism, they didn’t disclose this either.

If those same ‘socialist-preference’ Democrats knew they’d have to pay what could be as high as a 60% tax rate to support the preference, we’re betting on a change of heart.

(That’s one estimate how much we’d have to be taxed, to pay for their socialist utopia; but even if that was high, and it were only 40%, we believe support would collapse.)

The best way to run this poll is to qualify it with a ‘you-ok-with-high-taxes?’ caveat.

Anything else is just cheap theater.

Even then, it’s easy to mislead in a poll, when there’s no price yet to be paid. But there is one place where the rubber-hits-the-road, and that’s at election booths in November.

Republicans should lay out the real aspects of a Socialist-based agenda, hammer it home for the next few months, and then the ballot box will decide who prefers what.

Will High-Tax Reality short-circuit ‘no-skin-in-game’ bleeding hearts? Time will tell.