The U.S. definition of "Socialism" etc

[TheGuyFromOverThere]

Disclaimer: I´m not opening this to find out or define who is right or wrong, but to see why the (as perceived by me) definition of left / right, socialism, marxism etc in the U.S. is so vastly different then, for example in Germany and Austria.

So, what do I mean by that?

Last time I´ve been to the the U.S. I´ve been asked if I´d say that Obama, from a European perspective, would be a Marxist.

I see Biden being referred to as "Trojan Horse for Socialism" and Sanders being called a Socialist, Marxist or Communist.

Then I think about which party they would be in in Germany and have to say - no, from my / a German perspective, they would be none of those things.

As you might know, we have a lot more political parties in Germany. Currently in the Bundestag (like your House of Representatives) there are people from 6 parties.
Those are: (from left to right) Die Linke (the left, the closest thing to socialists we have), die Grünen (the green party), SPD (social-democratic party) - here would be the middle ground - - FDP (free democrats) - CDU/CSU (christian-democratic / christian-social-union), AfD (Alternative for Germany, basically open racists)

When I now take the three persons I mentioned... Obama and Biden would both probably be in the CDU/CSU or FDP. Conservatives and Neoliberals. Sanders would be the only one being in the slightly leftish SPD.

NONE of those parties would ever go against free healthcare for example, since it is seen as a basic right here.

So, after all that, my question is - is my perception wrong, are the views I perceive those of a vocal minority? And if it is right... why are our views so vastly different?