2020 Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg identified as a capitalist on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, but noted that he believes democracy is "more important" than capitalism.
"It's got to be democratic capitalism. And that part's really important, and it's slipping away from us ... When you have the kind of regulatory capture where powerful corporations are able to arrange the rules for their benefit, that's not real capitalism. If you want to see what happens when you have capitalism without democracy, you can see it very clearly in Russia. It turns into crony capitalism, and that turns into oligarchy."
Why you'll hear about this again: Gen Z, the latest crop of voters, preferred "socialism" to "capitalism" in an Axios poll this year. 61% of Americans aged between 18 and 24 have a positive reaction to the word "socialism" — just beating out "capitalism" at 58%.
Go deeper: A new form of American capitalism
