According to exit polls 23% of Americans are liberal, 40% are moderate , and 36% are conservative

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Ideologically, 36 percent of respondents said they are conservative, while 23 percent said they are liberal. Another 40 percent said they are moderates.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/exit-polls-2014-republican-democrat-turnout-112505.html#ixzz3Ia6v6c55


What should be our response?

Reach out to find common ground with folks who don't think like us


or


Ignore the results because the average American is too stupid to know what his or her beliefs are and what his or her beliefs make him or her?

[Le Taz Hot]

1. And has been posted and countered,

oh, I don't know, at least 500 times here, this is a poll that has people self-identifying with labels. Since the word "liberal" has been denigrated by the Republicans and Third-Way "Democrats," most people misunderstand the definition. When polls are taken on positions, for example, raising minimum wage or providing low-cost student loans, the vast majority of people, regardless of how they self-identify, favor liberal causes.

But keep on posting same old canard 'cause goddess knows we haven't seen it enough.

[geek tragedy]

5. Problem is those labels predict how people

vote .

[n2doc]

13. Not when it comes to policy

People voted for increases in the minimum wage, and increases in conservation efforts. Even in Florida.

Problem is, liberal has been disconnected from policy and only the met excessive, derogatory lies are associated with the term. That has to change, or Democrats need a new term. Or maybe an old one, like 'Progressive"

[Recursion]

15. Too bad we elect representatives

Because it does predict how they vote for candidates.

[geek tragedy]

26. People are rational when they think about issues

Problem is they are completely irrational when they vote.

[corkhead]

10. Thank you for sparing me the trouble of posting nearly the same thing

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. So you belong to the latter category

And everybody that believes differently than you is either wrong or delusional?

[daleanime]

28. Huh?

Did we read the same response?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

29. My remarks speak for themselves. They require no further elucidation.

Have a nice rest of the weekend.

[daleanime]

31. Which means....

don't brother paying any attention to some one else's views?



Then why start a discussion?




I have to say that comes across like a rock troll.

[Proud Public Servant]

2. The important thing to remember

is that that's self-identification. Conservatives have spent years, quite successfully, demonizing the word "liberal"; it's not surprising that people would eschew the label. But when questioned about policies, those people embrace liberal ones in greater numbers.

The same problem, incidentally, is in evidence among women whose values completely align with the major goals of feminism but refuse to label themselves "feminists."

The solution, I firmly believe, is to have a clear, and clearly-explainable, set of principles and policies that define us, so that our opponents have a harder time tarnishing our label.

[Scuba]

33. Bingo!

[tridim]

3. 23% of 1/3rd of America. nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Even among the general public the numbers are pretty constant, ergo:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/152021/conservatives-remain-largest-ideological-group.aspx

[Faux pas]

18. All fine and dandy

IF the polls didn't just poll a SMALL percentage of people. If the polls polled the ENTIRE population, then I'd take their (gallup/whomever) word.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. Those are representative samples

Do you dismiss every poll that doesn't poll every single Americans because those polls don't exist?

And if we dismiss very poll because they use a representative sample instead of polling everybody how do we know what people think about anything?

[Faux pas]

25. VERY SMALL SAMPLES.

That is all. Have a good one.

[geek tragedy]

4. Honestly, focus on state races rather than congress

We no longer have national policy or legislation on anything that matters. States and the president will be responsible for all policy initiatives.

This will be especially true when the SCOTUS kills the ACA next year.

Focus on local politics--the local assembly person is much more important than your US senator.

[Faux pas]

6. Just my humble opinion

I think those percentages are the percentage of each group who voted. Not the percentage of the entire population. Duh?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. See #7

Thank you.

[MannyGoldstein]

9. But on virtually any given issue, two-thirds of Americans hold the Liberal view

Increasing Social Security benefits, Medicare for all, raising the minimum wage, and so forth.

Two thirds!

Americans love Liberal ideas, but they've heard nothing but demonization of the word Liberal by Republicans and Third Wayers alike for decades.

The Third-Way chuckleheads who own our party today have fled from these positions, which may help them and their families to get rich on Wall Street, but it doesn't get votes for Democrats.

[HereSince1628]

11. According to exit polls means it only refers to Americans leaving polling places...

It appears that half of eligible Americans didn't enter let alone EXIT a polling place.

Based on this poll we MUST move RIGHTERER? R...I.....G........H..............T.................!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. Please see Post 7 (REDUX)

Thank you in advance.


I'm not offering any prescriptions.

[treestar]

22. Their views are irrelevant if they don't vote

That's why we don't bother to poll them.

[HereSince1628]

38. If you don't understand the nature of extrapolating

from a nonrandom sample...then you can't be helped to understand why that statement cannot be about -ALL- Americans.

[MineralMan]

16. Exit polls only measure the opinions of people who vote.

Those who don't vote don't get polled. That's a big part of the problem.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. Please see Post 7 (REDUX)

Thank you in advance.

[treestar]

21. Why poll them?

they don't vote, so they don't count.

[MineralMan]

24. Well, that's the attitude candidates take, generally.

Only the "likely voter" polls are of interest to candidates, and that's part of the reason we get the results in elections that we get. It's a feedback loop that reinforces itself at every election.

I don't know how to interrupt the feedback.

[treestar]

30. We win sometimes

Likely voters are the ones to go after. The apathetic would take so much effort and you can put a lot of effort into apathetic people and they still won't do anything.

[MineralMan]

32. You're right. In fact, I just posted an OP on that phenomenon.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025791081

[treestar]

20. If Bernie Sanders were President

They'd all be liberal in no time. At least, that's the impression I get here.

[kaiserhog]

23. The whole question is meaningless and

the answers even more so.

[on point]

27. That is according to labels, but majority have liberal positions

According to issues

This only a reflection of the fact we let pukes denigrate the liberal label. Step 1 might be to reclaim the label.

[DCBob]

34. That's a good sign since we should be able to reach a good chunk of those 40 percent moderates.

We just need to get our message out better to counter the Republican lies and RW media backing them up.

[Warren Stupidity]

35. Oh FFS - midterm election exit poll sampling is skewed right

because the democratic voters, for whatever reason, can't be bothered to vote in midterm elections.

[KingCharlemagne]

36. I wonder, though, about those self-identifying as 'moderate'. Unmoored from any

specific issues or candidates, I'm surprised the % of people identifying as 'moderate' isn't even higher.

"Moderate" is almost a meaningless label, imo, because it can mean different things to different people, depending almost upon what they had for breakfast on a given day.

So let me put the question out there. What does 'moderate' even mean any longer?

[Zorra]

37. A) Those are just the people who came out to vote.

B) Our response should be non-violent revolution, unless someone can find a way to instantaneously mind wipe the brainwashing out of their heads.

I have no common ground with fascists, and their unfortunate brainwashed clones, because I haven't owned a TV for 40 years. I don't have any of the matrix bullshit that was planted in their heads in my consciousness. I've never undergone the National American Video Lobotomy.

[GeorgeGist]

39. 60% DIDNT FUCKING VOTE.

Get a clue.

[TBF]

40. Realize that 60%

of the country is not voting at all. And you're worried about 1/3 of the 1/3 who actually show up? 60% are so fed up they don't even care enough to show up.

Think about that.