Progressive policies poll through the roof individually. Slapping a label on them, especially anything remotely socialist, kills their popularity.

Appeal to regular people on common sense terms. “We should get paid fairly and be able to afford housing” is obviously correct. You have to sign on to a socialist agenda, read theory, or do literally anything but agree that basic economic justice is a good thing, triggers a backlash.

It’s decades of propaganda rotting people’s brains, but it’s also supreme arrogance on the left thinking they can make anything happen without even trying to get popular support.