On Jul 6, 2009, at 12:02 PM, Marv Gandall wrote:
> Doug posted:
>
>> <http://www.gallup.com/poll/121403/Special-Report-Ideologically-Moving.aspx
>> >
>>
>> July 6, 2009
>>
>> Special Report: Ideologically, Where Is the U.S. Moving?
>> Nearly 4 in 10 Americans say their views have grown more conservative
> ================================================
> On the other hand, a recent study co-sponsored by the liberal
> organizations
> Campaign for America's Future and Media Matters entitled "America: A
> Center-Left Nation", concludes that "an examination of public opinion,
> election results, and demographic trends reveals that though America
> might
> have been center-right 15 or 25 years ago, it is most assuredly not
> today.
> Whether it is basic beliefs about government, opinions on domestic and
> foreign policy issues, or support for candidates of differing
> ideological
> perspectives, the public leans decidedly left. Not only has the
> country
> become progressive, it is likely to remain so for some time to come."
Further down in the Gallup analysis, they report that on specific issues, there's not much movement one way or the other taken in the aggregate, though there are some shifts on specific things.
> The report drew on the biennial National Election Studies, surveys
> by the
> Pew Research Center, and other surveys by Gallup.
>
> See: http://www.ourfuture.org/files/Center-Left-Nation.pdf
>
> These and other conflicting surveys are probably an indicator of how
> uncertain, confused, and in flux American political attitudes are in
> this
> turbulent period of rapid change.
Not sure it's flux - my sense is that Americans are really fucking confused, and always have been.