WASHINGTON – As some Democratic presidential candidates are pushing back on blistering criticism from President Donald Trump that their party has become "socialist," Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday doubled down on his embrace of the label.

Touting his "democratic socialism" approach to politics as the best way to address income inequality, the U.S. senator from Vermont sought to rebrand the controversial term during a high-profile address – even as some within his party worry that a leftward lurch could hurt Democrats in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin next year.

"Over 80 years ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt helped create a government that made transformative progress in protecting the needs of working families," Sanders said. "Today, in the second decade of the 21st century, we must take up the unfinished business of the New Deal and carry it to completion."

Trump has labeled the entire Democratic field socialist and has repeatedly warned that a Democratic president would embrace policies that led to economic ruin in Venezuela. In a crowded field of nearly two dozen candidates – and a strong desire to beat Trump in November – the criticism has resonated with some.

"I fundamentally disagree that we should do away with the democratic, regulated capitalism that has guided this country for over 200 years," said former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democat who is also seeking the presidential nomination. "This position is shared by many of my Democratic colleagues, but for some reason, our party has been hesitant to express their opposition to democratic socialism."

More:Bernie Sanders to defend democratic socialism in face of attacks

Jim Kessler, executive vice president at the center-left think tank Third Way, said the socialist tag, if it sticks, could be damaging to Democrats. In November, both Trump and the Democratic nominee will be fighting for swing voters not tied rigidly to ideology.

“We have never elected a national Democrat to the White House who is far to the left,” Kessler said. “Walter Mondale won one state. George McGovern won two. We are whistling past the graveyard if we think that's changed.”

More:Trump looks to pin 'socialism' label on Democrats before 2020. Will it stick?

For a nation that became the global counterweight to the Soviet Union after World War II, the term "socialism" has long been used as a stand-in for "communism," and it has been viewed as anathema to American politics. Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, used the word during the 2008 presidential campaign to attack Barack Obama's income tax proposals.

During the 2016 Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton sought to use the S-word against Sanders, indicating she had heard from party officials who were "concerned" about the his policies. Clinton, who ran as a centrist, won the nomination, but it was Sanders who fired up much of the Democratic base.

Sanders acknowledged opponents would continue to use the term socialism as a “slur.”

“I have faced and overcome these attacks for decades,” Sanders said.

Fifty-one percent of U.S. adults say socialism would be a bad thing for the country, and 43% say it would be a good thing, according to a Gallup poll published last month. That marks a sharp contrast with a Roper/Fortune survey in 1942 that found 40% describing socialism as a bad thing, 25% a good thing and 34% not having an opinion.

Sanders stands alone among the field of nearly two dozen major Democratic presidential candidates to identify as a “democratic socialist.” Sanders defined the philosophy as not shaped by Marxism but rather embracing the ideals of President Roosevelt's New Deal.

In practice, that has meant endorsing "Medicare for all," which would allow the government-run Medicare program for seniors to provide health insurance for every American. Sanders has supported free or debt-free college tuition, paid for by taxpayers, and the ambitious Green New Deal to curb climate change.

"Economic rights are human rights," Sanders said. "And that is what I mean by democratic socialism."

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