Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont essentially told people to check out the scoreboard when asked about a recent poll showing that two-thirds of American voters were uncomfortable with a socialist candidate for president.

“What was the result of that poll? Who was winning?” said Mr. Sanders, who also held a double-digit lead over his nearest 2020 Democratic rival in the survey.

“We are living, in many ways, in a socialist society right now,” he said at Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas. “Problem is, as Dr. Martin Luther King reminded us, we have socialism for the very rich, rugged individualism for the poor.”

Some of Mr. Sanders‘ Democratic rivals have warned against nominating a self-described “democratic socialist” to lead the party’s ticket in November.

President Trump has repeatedly previewed a would-be attack as well, hammering home the line in recent speeches that the United States will never be a socialist country.

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