How popular is ecosocialist transformation? We explored this question in a new study, just published in The Lancet Planetary Health together with colleagues at the London School of Economics.
We surveyed more than 5,000 people in the UK and US, using representative samples and two separate study designs. We presented people with a full proposal for eco-socialist transformation, which included the following:
- scaling down damaging and unnecessary production and consumption
- cutting the purchasing power of the rich, and reducing inequality
- establishing universal public services and a public job guarantee to reorganise production around needs
- democratising control over finance and the means of production
- ending imperialist appropriation from the global South through unequal exchange
We found that this vision enjoys strong majority support in both countries. In the US, 72% of people supported it, and in the UK support was even higher at 82%. These are striking results, and confirm other studies showing popular support for many of the principles and policies associated with ecosocialism.
