Gallup: America reddening?

Can't believe I missed this one. And I can't believe you Repugs didn't rub this in my face!

For 79% of Americans, "liberal" is still unfortunately a four-letter word. That's why I'm all in favor of re-branding us as progressives, although I'm proud to be a big, stinking, bleeding-heart liberal.

So how the hell did Obama get elected and the Dems win Congress, huh? Jeez, the Republicans must really suck, when conservatives have an inherent 2:1 lead over liberals. (We all know conservatives aint gonna vote for no Democrats.) Oh yeah, there's still that 35% of Americans who call themselves "moderates." I guess the Republicans are just really good at alienating moderates. Sometimes you don't have to be competent to succeed, you just have to be less incompetent than everybody else....

"Conservatives" Are Single-Largest Ideological Group

Percentage of "liberals" higher this decade than in early '90s

By Lydia Saad

June 15, 2009 | Gallup.com

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UPDATED with my comments to actual conservatives!

Did you follow that link? For example, 54% of Americans favor legal unions for gays. Is that conservative? Or have you seen the polls about the 77% of people who want a public option in the health care bill? Is that conservative? Or the pretty high number -- 39% now, but it was 50% in 2007 when Dubya was in office -- of Americans who favor stricter gun control laws, and the only 15% of people who want current gun laws to be less strict? Or, worst of all, the polls that show steadily about 60% of Americans continue to support Roe v. Wade.

Once you get down to the issue level, the ideological labels break down. That's why the zealots on either side try to label pragmatic reforms as too "conservative" or "liberal" to whip those self-identified people back in line, in terms of, "Oh, if they're saying this bill is too liberal, I can't support it, because I'm a conservative." This is Rush Limbaugh and FOX's bread & butter, you know: they are like sheepherders/enforcers trying to keep all their sheep in the flock, not straying on any single issue. But we all know that most people do stray occassionally, they don't stay in the ideological flock, and they do have minds of their own. They even change them! (Rarely).

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But why do you cling to the labels "conservative" and "liberal" if they are not reliable indicators of how Americans feel about the important issues? (I know, I'm the pot calling the kettle black). If it gives you some special satisfaction to know you're in the self-identified majority, so be it. I wouldn't mind if every last American called himself a conservative Republican if we had national health care, stricter gun control, legal unions for gays, more equitable taxation, etc., etc. If I get a "win" on my issues, I'm happy.

These labels are a convenient shorthand for discussion and analysis, sure, but we shouldn't assign principle significance to them, when the real information we want lies deeper.

And for the record, liberals are slowly winning -- at least liberal policies are, which is why you all complain about the U.S. going to hell in a handbasket, "the culture war," and so on. We are going to have more equitable taxation, we will have a tax on carbon emissions, we will have stricter gun control, we will have a more active government when it comes to energy and education, etc.. These things are happening and will continue to happen, because at the end of the day people -- conservatives and liberals -- want them to. They want government to do more and pick up the slack that nobody else is pulling -- not charities, not corporations, not states or municipalities. That's our pragmatism. That's what's going to save us. That's why I'm optimistic.

Finally, it's too easy to dismiss polling as always poorly worded or biased. We all know polls matter, and we ignore polls at our peril. Just ask polling extraordinaires Karl Rove and Dick Morris.