The right has successfully demonized the word socialism.  In reality, most Americans are very comfortable with actual socialism.  Very few want to abolish public education.  Very few want to get rid of medicare, social security, or medicaid.  Most of the people scared of Medicare for All don't know the difference between a single-payer system and the NHS in Britain which are completely different things.  When that difference is explained, all of a sudden people are willing to sign on with Bernie's plan.

Socialism is just the democratization of economics and the removal of economic exploitation.  So, no, most Americans aren't comfortable with the word.  All the polling shows that they're very content with actual socialism in action, however.  Ayn Rand devotees are, thank God, few and far between.

Marc

Socialism definition:a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole

Is not even close to the policies of Bernie, who basically want to give more power to the common man by taking it away from the ultra-rich. 

If Bernie was advocating for ending private ownership of companies or such he wouldn't have my support.

Unless you think of Germany, France, all of Scandinavia, etc. as communist regimes.

Having said that, and obviously looking from afar, Sanders is the only candidate that has a shot of beating Trump in the general election.

So that seems to be the choice: more Trump (I shudder just imagining the possibilities if he gets this kind of validation) or give ol´Bernie a shot.