Poll: Capitalism trounces socialism — but Sanders beats Trump

Voters narrowly back Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a hypothetical face-off against President Trump, even as a majority has a negative view of socialism, a new poll has found.

In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey released Sunday, 53 percent of registered voters said they have a negative view of socialism, compared to 19 percent who have a positive view. The poll found the opposite result for capitalism, which 52 percent of voters said they have a positive view of, compared to 18 percent who said they have a negative view of it. This finding came ahead of the caucuses in Iowa, where Sanders has been surging.

But the poll still found Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, with a lead over Trump, earning 49 percent support in a head-to-head matchup compared to Trump's 45 percent. Former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg also led Trump.

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Previously, a Gallup poll from November found that 39 percent of Americans say they have a positive view of socialism, compared to 57 percent with a negative view. But pointing to the fact that 49 percent of voters in this new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll backed Sanders despite the low support for socialism, The Washington Post's Dave Weigel argued Monday that "there's clearly some wiggle room for people who disagree *conceptually* but like him a lot."

NBC News/Wall Street Journal's poll was conducted by speaking to 1,000 registered voters from Jan. 26-29. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points. Read the full results at NBC News.