America: A Center-Left Nation

[one...two...tree 2,762]

by Joshua Holland, Alternet

This week, a new report released by the Campaign for America's Future and the media watchdog group MediaMatters attempts to finally bury the idea that the U.S. leans rightward. It takes a comprehensive look at the political landscape in which we live and a look forward at America's shifting demographic profile -- all of which reveal a citizenry that is anything but center-right and will only continue to trend in a more progressive direction, leaving modern conservatism increasingly isolated in its ideas.

The study gathered public-opinion data from a number of respected, nonpartisan polling outfits, findings from the (huge) National Election Study series and official statistics on ethnicity and gender to make the case. Among the findings:

• On what may be the key difference between liberals and conservatives today -- the role of government -- more than twice as many people agree with the statement, "there are more things government should be doing" than believe the Reaganite adage, "the less government, the better."
• In 1994, more than half of Americans said, "government regulation of business usually does more harm than good" and fewer than 4 out of 10 thought "government regulation of business is necessary to protect the public interest." That's been flipped on its head during the 15 years since -- today, fewer than 4 in 10 believe regulation causes more harm than good.
• A majority (55-70 percent, depending on how the question is worded) believes it's the government's responsibility to provide health care to all Americans; fewer than a third of those responding to a CBS/New York Times poll thought health insurance should be "left only to private enterprise."
• Almost 2 out of 3 Americans believe the taxes they pay are fair, and that the very wealthy pay too little in taxes; almost 7 in 10 believe corporations don't pay their fair share of taxes.

During a conference call with reporters, Robert Borosage, co-director of Campaign for America's future, acknowledged that until 15 to 20 years ago, a center-right coalition of conservatives and political moderates did represent a majority of the electorate, but noted that the views of moderates and independents have grown much more closely aligned with those of more progressive voters, and the result is a center-left mandate for the new administration and Democratic-controlled Congress.

What's more, the country's changing demographics suggest that America will continue to be a center-left country in the coming decades. The most progressive (or at least solidly Democratic-leaning) constituencies in the country -- single women, African Americans and other minority groups, young people -- are growing as a share of the electorate, while the "Reagan Democrats" -- older, working-class whites -- who were the backbone of the conservative movement are declining as a share of the population.

http://www.alternet.org/politics/140307/th...time_in_memory/

[Danno 1,228]

Why don't all these "center-left" people watch the news.. or TV?

We hear endlessly from the left how only a right-wing robot would watch FOX, yet here are the latest numbers.

CABLE NEWS RACE

THURS., MAY 29, 2009

FOXNEWS OREILLY 3,526,000

FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,474,000

FOXNEWS BECK 2,009,000

FOXNEWS BAIER 1,871,000

FOXNEWS GRETA 1,834,000

FOXNEWS SHEP 1,787,000

MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,298,000

MSNBC MADDOW 1,029,000

CNNHN GRACE 915,000

CNN COOPER 852,000

Steven, do you really believe your own BS my friend?

[mRx 16]

The majority is fooled.

[Ban Hammer 13,395]

hardly unbiased sources in that op........

Campaign for America's Future (CAF) is an American political organization of progressives.

link

Media Matters for America (or MMfA) is a 501©(3) non-profit organization founded in 2004 by journalist and author David Brock. Media Matters for America describes itself as "a web-based, not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." Media Matters for America defines "conservative misinformation" as "news or commentary presented in the media that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda."[1]

link

and someone with an ax to grind from media matters.......

Brock further said that his former friends in right-wing politics shunned him because Seduction did not adequately attack the Clintons. He also argued that his "friends" had not really been friends at all, due to the open secret that Brock was gay.[3]

link

[dalegg 143]

I have a hard time believing this when California just voted down tax increases 2 to 1 and already voted against gay marriage.