During World War II, many Americans viewed socialism as a scary and oppressive economic system that threatened to take away freedom. However, a recent poll shows that the term is now being embraced by a majority of Democratic primary voters.

A new poll conducted earlier this month by American Action Network (AAN), a right-leaning issue advocacy group, reveals that almost 60 percent of Democratic primary voters believe socialism has a "positive impact on society."

This may explain why Bernie Sanders, a self-described "democratic socialist," has run a strong presidential campaign in the 2016 election. At the start of his campaign, critics believed that Sanders would hurt his chances at winning the White House by calling himself a socialist. However, he has since proven to be a competitive candidate with a viable chance of beating Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Sanders' campaign was widely underestimated and the word "socialist" has taken on a new meaning in American politics.

According to the poll, Democratic voters in every age group, gender and race have a favorable view of socialism. Overall, the ideology is viewed favorably by 43 percent of primary voters and unfavorably by 30 percent, giving it an approval rating of +13. In comparison, capitalism has a +17 approval rating.

Furthermore, 46 percent of Democrats, ages 45 and under, said they prefer socialism, compared to 19 percent who favor capitalism. This could also help explain why and how Sanders has been polling so well among younger voters.

"Now you finally have someone who's running for president - not just running, but doing very well, is very competitive, may very well be the nominee - who calls himself a socialist," said AAN president Mike Shields, adding that his group wanted "to see what the primary electorate itself thinks," according to Politico.

Although all demographics of Democratic primary voters have a favorable view of socialism, the groups with the smallest margins happen to be the blocs giving Clinton the most support. Only 36 percent of voters over 66 years old preferred socialism, while 28 percent sided with capitalism. Likewise, 40 percent of African-Americans chose socialism, while 27 percent prefer capitalism.

In the survey, socialism was defined as a system for those who believe "corporations have too much control and that the capitalist system is set up to favor the rich and powerful," and that "the only way to police corporations and protect the citizens is for the government to take a larger role in managing the economy to make sure that every individual has equal access to basic necessities and public goods, even if that means that some people have to transfer their wealth to others."

On the other hand, free market capitalism was described as the world view for those who "say that it's not the government's job to pick winners and losers and that government intervention only leads to inefficiency. They say that capitalism produces the greatest amount of personal and economic freedom for every individual and [it] ultimately results in the best economic outcome for society, even if some people are left behind because they can't compete."

Watch Sanders explain democratic socialism below:

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