Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
McCain Adviser Admits America Is Center-Left
Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form
As ThinkProgress has chronicled, conservative pundits and even some traditional journalists continue to insist that America remains a center-right nation. Today in a Washington Post op-ed, Hoover Institution fellow and former informal adviser to the McCain campaign Tod Lindberg rebuts this myth:
Here’s the stark reality: It is now harder for the Republican presidential candidate to get to 50.1 percent than for the Democrat. My Hoover Institution colleague David Brady and Douglas Rivers of the research firm YouGovPolimetrix have been analyzing data from online interviews with 12,000 people in both 2004 and 2008. It shows an overall shift to the Democrats of six percentage points. As they write in the forthcoming edition of Policy Review, “The decline of Republican strength occurs by having strong Republicans become weak Republicans, weak Republicans becoming independents, and independents leaning more Democratic or even becoming Democrats.” This is a portrait of an electorate moving from center-right to center-left.
Lindberg acknowledges that “the percentage of voters describing themselves as ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ has held relatively constant over many election cycles.” However, he notes that “the views behind those labels” have shifted to be more liberal.
| Also by Amanda Terkel | ||||
| America Can't Wait for Bush to Leave New poll finds that 75% of Americans are glad President Bush is leaving office. December 28, 2008. |
RNC Chair Candidate Distributes 'Barack the Magic Negro' as His Christmas Greeting The Hill reports that for his Christmas greeting this year, Chip Saltsman sent out a CD of the song "Barack the Magic Negro." December 27, 2008. |
Dick Cheney Still Loves Gitmo, Thinks Obama Will Appreciate Expansion of Powers "So Guantanamo has been very, very valuable. And I think they'll discover that trying to close it is a very hard proposition." December 16, 2008. |
Colin Powell Slams Palin and the Republican Party I’m from the South Bronx, 'and there’s nothing wrong with my value system.' December 13, 2008. |
New Unemployment Claims Hit 26-Year High Labor Department reports this morning show new claims for unemployment benefits hit 573,000 last week, the highest level in 26 years. December 11, 2008. |