Americans Move Left: "The Trend In Public Opinion Is Unmistakenly Leftward"

[Better Believe It]

July 28, 2008
CommonDreams.org
Americans Move Left, New York Times Misses It
by Jeff Cohen

The headline atop Saturday’s op-ed page was a hallowed standby for the New York Times: “Americans Move to the Middle.” Assembled by Times “visual columnist” Charles Blow, the text of the column was dwarfed by 15 graphs tracking recent movement in American public opinion, based on Gallup polls. There was one problem: the headline totally distorted the data.

An accurate headline would have been “American Opinion Moves Leftward” — but accuracy was apparently trumped by centrist ideology. (Yes, there are ideologues of the center, as well as of Left or Right.)

It’s a cherished myth of many in establishment punditry that most Americans perpetually and happily find their way to the safe center of American politics. This pleasant status quo consensus is marred, in Blow’s text, by “party extremists sharpening their wedge issues” to rally their bases and caricature their opponents.

Here’s the data presented by Blow and the Times: 15 public opinion graphs on various issues starting in 2001-2003 and ending in 2006-2008. Of the 15, about a dozen track issues on which there are recognizable positions associated with Right and Left. Of those dozen, the trend in opinion is unmistakenly leftward on virtually every one.

Please read the data and rest of this article at:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/28/10644/

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The Progressive Majority:
Why a Conservative America is a Myth
Media Matters For America
Fall 2006

"Republicans tend to be conservative on both . That's been a strength in a conservative country."


Mark Halperin of ABC News, October 30, 20061

Halperin is hardly alone in his view that whether one is talking about economic issues or social issues, conservatives have the public on their side. Democrats may win an election here or there, but at its most fundamental level, conventional political wisdom assumes America is a conservative country: hostile to government, in favor of unregulated markets, at peace with inequality, desirous of a foreign policy based on the projection of military power, and traditional in its social values.

This report demonstrates the inaccuracy of that picture of America. Media perceptions and past Republican electoral successes notwithstanding, Americans are progressive across a wide range of controversial issues, and they're growing more progressive all the time.










































































Conclusion

If Americans are so progressive, why don't more say so?

When asked for evidence, advocates of the idea that America is a conservative country will often cite the fact that polls show more people labeling themselves as "conservative" than "liberal." This is certainly true, as data from the NES show:



Yet there are a number of reasons to conclude that the data on self-labeling tells us relatively little about the actual ideological positioning of the public. First, as political scientists have understood for more than 40 years, most Americans simply don't think in ideological terms. To take one example, the National Election Studies has asked respondents in the past, "Would you say that either one of the parties is more conservative than the other at the national level?" The number answering "the Republicans" seldom exceeded 60 percent when the question was asked in the past; after a 12-year hiatus, the NES asked the question again in 2004, when two-thirds of the public, an all-time high, gave the correct answer. This means that, at a time when the parties are more ideologically distinct than ever, one-third of the public can't name correctly which party is more conservative. If this bare minimum of knowledge is unavailable to such a large proportion of the population, it is fair to say that their self-placement on ideological scales will not be a particularly reliable gauge of their actual beliefs on issues.

Another reason people don't use the liberal label is that the term "liberal" has been victim to a relentless conservative marketing campaign that has succeeded in vilifying liberals and liberalism. The consequence is that only strong liberals are willing to identify as such. But many people who hold liberal issue positions call themselves moderates, or even conservatives. As Christopher Ellis wrote in a recent study of ideological labeling, "any conservatives are not very conservative":

As all the data presented in this report make clear, whatever Americans choose to call themselves, on issue after issue -- economic, social, security, and more -- majorities of the public find themselves on the progressive side. And on many of the most contentious "culture war" issues, the public has been growing more progressive year after year. Much of the news media seems not to have noticed. But the facts are too clear to ignore.

Please read the entire article at:


http://mediamatters.org/progmaj/report

[dflprincess]

1. But the candidate must move the right

or only "wild eyed lefties" will support him!

[jimshoes]

2. You wouldn't know it if you turned on

the AM band of the radio any morning in or around Cleveland, (which is actually fairly blue) a quick scan while trying to hear what time it was brought me Glen Blech, Laura Ingrimm, and one other wingnut gasbag whose name isn't worth remembering, oh and some religious station sending me blessings or some such. I never did hear what time it was.

[enid602]

3. centrists

We're expected to become centrists when it's become absolutely clear that the Right has totally reped our country.

[mmonk]

4. Which begs the question why do Democrats for office run right?

[checks-n-balances]

6. 'Cause they still believe the BS propagated by GOP pols & pundits

It's been set up this way:

1. Politicians of every stripe repeat the meme that campaigns have to be geared rightward to be successful

2. The public gets an earful of RW talking points from all candidates

3. Successful Dems whose platforms consisted of RW points follow through on them while in office

4. Our opponents "win" even if they "lose" the election

[mmonk]

9. #4 sure appears right, especially after the '06 elections.

[intheflow]

5. A third of people interviewed couldn't say

which party was more conservative. Considering the BS impeachment block by our Democratic leadership, as well as their rush to war and enthusiastic embrace of the Patriot Act, I'd have to say I'm not surprised by that stat.

[PDJane]

7. I would like someone to explain to me

The fact that so many Americans think they are to the right, vote Republican, and hold contrary views. I don't get it.

I have at least two friends who believe the death penalty should be abolished, believe that government should provide things like health care, agree that both the military and the penal system have gotten out of hand and are costing far too much to sustain, and yet feel that punishment is a good thing and that welfare and social services are a bad word...even while they tell me they'd love to have our system of health care.

What the hell is going on down there? Is it in the water? Is it pollution? Is it the constant media stream of hate? What?

[unpossibles]

8. I've honestly believed this for some time

thanks for the link!

[the other one]

10. Makes you wonder how they ever win an election

being that they are so contrary to public opinion.