Polls show this country is more liberal than a Gallup poll suggests

I've discussed this subject before, but in more of a general sense than I will be doing today. Why is it that Democrats have won 4 of the past 6 presidential elections (more like five), are expanding the blue area of the electoral map, and it appears as if the younger generations are becoming more and more liberal, yet when polled, many more Americans identify themselves as conservatives rather than liberals?

A Gallup poll, which was released last year, showed that 40% of Americans consider themselves to be conservative, 35% consider themselves to be moderate, and 21% consider themselves to be liberal.

How can this be? Many Republican politicians and conservative talking heads alike point to such polls and say, "This is a center-right country. These numbers show if either party should be compromising, it's the Democrats."

I've held the belief that this country is actually more liberal than these polls lead us to believe, but that due to the bastardization of the word through the years via the right-wing media machine, many have been given a negative image of the word liberal and have become less prone to identifying themselves as one.

Let's look at the issues individually, shall we? I'll be looking at each of the following issues: Same-sex marriage, marijuana legalization, abortion, taxing the rich, gun control, and global warming.

Issue: Same-sex marriage

While liberals have been fighting for equal marriage rights for some time, most conservatives have fought against these rights and even gone so far as to say an amendment should be added to the Constitution to ban such marriages. While the general public has been somewhat slow in warming up to the idea of granting gay couples equal marriage rights, it seems to be turning the corner. In five very recent polls conducted by ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Pew Research Center, and Fox News, more people believe gay marriage should be legal than illegal.

ABC News: Legal - 58%, Illegal - 36%

CBS News: Legal - 53%, Illegal - 39%

CNN: Legal - 53%, Illegal - 44%

Pew Research Center: Legal - 49%, Illegal - 44%

Fox News: Legal - 49%, Illegal - 46%

Average: Legal - 52.4%, Illegal - 41.8% (+10.6%)

Verdict: This country is moderate/center-left on the issue and leaning further left.


Issue: Marijuana legalization

A recent YouGov poll showed that 51% of Americans believe the drug should be legalized, while only 33% believe it should be completely illegal. Breaking things down by party, 70% of Democrats felt marijuana should be legalized, 59% of Independents felt the same way, and only 37% of Republicans felt this way. Like with the same-sex marriage issue, while the general public has been slow to warm up to the idea of marijuana legalization, it's starting to turn the corner.

Verdict: We've again moved into moderate/center-left territory, and are again leaning further left.


Issue: Abortion

It's no secret that abortion has been the issue most focused upon by the majority of far-right conservative politicians and the evangelical community. Many bills have been proposed all across this country, some that have passed, which have made it more difficult for women to have abortions. This is one reason why some Democratic politicians laid claim that the Republican Party was waging a war against women, and as expected, a majority of women voted for Democratic candidates in last November's elections. According to another fairly recent poll (NBC/Wall Street Journal), a majority of Americans support this practice. While 54% of Americans feel abortion should be legal in most or all circumstances, 44% believe it should be illegal in most or all circumstances, and just 9% believe it should be made illegal in all circumstances.

Verdict: This country appears to be moderate/center-left on this issue and seeming to hold fairly steady.


Issue: Taxing the rich

While Democrats have been wanting to raise taxes on the rich to aid with the deficit and spending, Republicans have often times claimed that such a move would be socialist and proof that Democrats just want to punish success. Well, in a Quinnipiac poll which was released not too terribly long ago, it showed that 65% of registered voters support raising taxes on those whom make over $250,000 a year. Approximately 84% of Democrats and Independents supported this move, while only 41% of Republicans approved of it.

Verdict: I'd probably classify this country as liberal on this issue at this point in time, and likely holding fairly steady on the matter.


Issue: Gun control

This has been an extremely divided issue pretty much right along party lines. While most Republicans have decried just about any gun control legislation, most Democrats have supported such measures.

In a recent Washington Post poll, it showed that 57% of the country supports banning assault weapons, while 41% oppose. It also showcased that 91% support requiring background checks on all gun purchases, while just 8% oppose. Most other like polls show very similar numbers to these.

Verdict: I'll again label this country as fairly liberal on this issue.


Issue: Global warming

While it seems that more Republicans are opening up to the idea of global warming, a majority of them still either outright oppose the "idea" or believe more research needs to be done in order to prove it exists. Democrats, meanwhile, have overwhelmingly illustrated that they believe global warming is real and have put forth a greater effort in putting forth legislation to reverse or at least slow the trends.

In an extremely recent poll on the matter, 58% of Americans say they're extremely worried about global warming, 57% believe that humans are contributing to the problem, and 54% believe its effects can already be seen or felt.

Verdict: I'd probably classify us as moderate/center-left and appearing to hold fairly steady.

So, let's break this down here. In a country where 40% classify themselves as conservative and only 21% classify themselves as liberal, the country is: Center-left (and going further left) on the same-sex marriage issue, center-left (and going further left) when it comes to marijuana legalization, center-left on abortion, liberal when it comes to increasing taxes on the rich, liberal on specific gun control laws, and center-left on the issue of global warming. Excluding marijuana legalization, these are arguably the five biggest issues for die-hard conservative Republicans. The majority of the country disagrees with them on each issue, yet identifies themselves as more conservative than liberal. Like I said before, I strongly believe the word liberal has been bastardized to such an extent that even people with consistently liberal beliefs have become increasingly prone to straying from labeling themselves as such - as a liberal.

This would be similar to if a person answered the following questions in the affirmative:

"Do you believe in God?"

"Do you believe in Jesus?"

"Do you believe he died on the cross to save mankind from their sins?"

"Do you believe he rose from the dead three days following the crucifixion?"

"Do you believe that only through him can you be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven?"

...then when the person was asked what his religious affiliation was, he responded with, "An atheist."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71385.html

http://www.pewresearch.org/2013/03/29/yes-more-americans-favor-legalizing-gay-marriage-but-just-how-many-do/

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/marijuana-poll_n_3112263.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323301104578255831504582200.html

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/06/trio-of-polls-support-for-raising-taxes-on-wealthy/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/03/12/National-Politics/Polling/release_217.xml?uuid=Ehn7LIsBEeKbGt6yWKJPLQ

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/climate-change-poll-increased-concern_n_3038320.html