These days, it can feel like Americans across the political divide cannot agree on much of anything.

But there is encouraging news: When it comes to the economic foundations of human progress and flourishing, we are not as divided as we might think.

Political polarization has become a defining feature of American life. More and more people are avoiding dating or befriending those with opposing political views, and growing numbers describe those on the other side as closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent. This divide extends to economics, where debates over capitalism versus socialism are often defined by what team you are on rather than honest thinking about how to improve living standards.

Of course, political parties have long differed along economic lines. However, that divide has grown in recent decades, largely driven by Democrats souring on capitalism and becoming more favorable toward socialism. According to Gallup, from 2010 to 2025, Republican views on capitalism and socialism remained fairly stable, with favorable views of capitalism hovering between 71% and 74% and favorable views of socialism staying mostly below 20%.

Democratic views shifted more notably. Favorable views of capitalism fell from 51% to 42%, while favorable views of socialism climbed from 50% to 66%. This and similar polls suggest that the majority of Democrats now prefer socialism over capitalism.

Look beneath the surface, though, and a different story emerges. A 2019 Gallup poll found that while only 60% of Americans had a positive attitude toward capitalism, 87% had a positive attitude toward free enterprise, and 90% had a positive attitude toward entrepreneurs. The building blocks of capitalism appear to enjoy broad support even if the label doesn’t.

Our team at the Archbridge Institute’s Human Flourishing Lab wanted to explore this further. If you describe the core mechanics of capitalism and socialism without using those loaded labels, which system do Americans actually believe will advance human progress and flourishing?

To find out, in our latest Progress Pulse survey of over 2,000 American adults conducted in partnership with The Harris Poll, we presented two viewpoints. One held that businesses competing freely in the marketplace, driven by private companies and entrepreneurs, are the best way to solve today’s big challenges and improve people’s lives. The other held that government agencies coordinating resources and setting priorities are the better path forward.

The results revealed more consensus than these polarized times might suggest. Though political differences emerged as expected, clear majorities of both Republicans (76%) and Democrats (60%) chose free markets, private companies, and entrepreneurship over government coordination and planning. Economic freedom won out across every demographic group we examined, even among young adults, who are often assumed to be socialism’s most receptive audience. Nearly 6 in 10 adults under 25 choose free markets, private companies and entrepreneurship.

So what is going on? Part of the answer likely lies in how the meaning of these terms has shifted in public discourse. On the political left, capitalism has become increasingly associated with inequality, corporate power and corruption, and instability, while socialism is framed around equality, fairness and security. Entertainment media, long dominated by those on the political left, tend to depict capitalism as a destructive force. Inspiring entrepreneurial stories are told regularly, yet rarely acknowledged as products of the economic system that made them possible. The result is a strange disconnect. Many who have grown skeptical of the word capitalism still embrace and celebrate the economic freedom that defines it.

Two paths forward are worth considering. One is rehabilitating the term capitalism, making a sustained case for what it actually means and what it has achieved. The other is simply bypassing the arguments over labels and centering public conversations on the ideas most Americans already embrace, namely entrepreneurship, innovation, free enterprise and individual agency. Given how deeply the word capitalism has been politicized in an already-divided country, the latter may be the more pragmatic near-term strategy, which could pave the way for an eventual reclaiming of the term itself.

Social psychologists use the concept of superordinate identity to describe a shared framework that transcends group divisions. When people tap into that kind of larger identity, they are more likely to set aside tribal loyalties and work together toward shared goals. Republicans and Democrats remain divided on many policies and priorities. However, our data suggest there is a shared economic foundation for a superordinate American identity. A belief in economic freedom that cuts across party lines could be the basis for more productive conversations about how to expand opportunity and remove barriers to entrepreneurship and social mobility.

Progress requires cooperation. And cooperation is facilitated by finding common ground. Most Americans already believe in the engine of prosperity. They just do not always agree on what to call it.

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Justin Callais is chief economist and Clay Routledge is executive vice president and COO at the Archbridge Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

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