I would like to know what the right answer is for Buffy's political views, since it says the show provides evidence!
Okay so essentially my reasoning comes from a few different episodes and the overall message of the show itself, but especially the episode Anne. Buffy literally leads a revolution of the working class with an actual hammer and sickle for weapons (that's my profile pic!) and kills the capitalist hell demons who are exploiting the labor of the workers and suppressing their humanity. As far as metaphors go, it's pretty blatant.
The conclusion of the show is Buffy sharing her power, distributing her power so it isn't just hers to have anymore. The show ends on the note of giving power to people instead of staying in line with the very hierarchical, patriarchal ideals of the Council.
Another thing I think is interesting is that Buffy is usually in direct opposition with Anya, a self proclaimed capitalist, and shows visible disgust when Anya suggest charging for her slaying services.
Buffy canonically does not like cops. We see this during the career day episode.
Buffy is a worker herself who knows first hand how the system is not designed to support her/other workers.
There's definitely more examples of Buffy' sociopolitical values but these are the major ones.
So I come down on the side of Buffy being an explicit leftist, but I also see how she might consider herself a dem even though she's more left than she thinks just because she doesn't have time to read a lot of theory. Both of those answers make sense to me.
The role of class itself plays a really interesting role on the show. I might make another post just about this topic in general but idk.