Poll: most Americans are 'centrists'

[Le Socialiste]

I know, I know, the term "centrist" is pretty problematic. Most of the article's conclusions are as well. The poll results are a little interesting, which is why I thought to post this here. The 'results' themselves are symptomatic of what some have begun calling "the new normal," but there's also a few surprises hidden in there. They also display some frustrating - even conservative - ideas about race, with 57% in support of ending affirmative action in hiring decisions and college admissions. The sooner we shatter this notion that we live in a post-racial society, the better.


You wouldn't know it from listening to Congress or watching cable news, but most Americans are not as ideologically divided as some might suggest.

According to a survey commissioned by NBC News and Esquire magazine released Tuesday, a majority of American voters (51 percent) fall into what the study — conducted by lead pollsters for President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's campaigns — identified as the ideological center: minivan moderates, pickup populists, the MBA-earning middle and the hashtag-using #whatever man.

Roughly 6 in 10 (58 percent) of those respondents say they are pessimistic about American politics, and more than 44 percent feel their ideas are not represented by Republicans or Democrats.

And just what are those ideas?

A majority (57 percent) of centrists support ending affirmative action in hiring decisions and college admissions, are in favor (52 percent) of legalizing marijuana and mostly (59 percent) think feel religion should have no role in politics. A larger percentage (64 percent), meanwhile, support gay marriage and the right to an abortion for any reason within the first trimester (63 percent). And a vast majority (76 percent) of centrists "believe that the U.S. should no longer be the world’s policeman."

The study found 45 percent of this group support background checks for gun purchases (34 percent own a gun or have a gun in their household) and 54 percent "feel the Constitution cannot provide guidance to modern problems facing us now."

And while a strong majority (66 percent) of centrists say that America is still the greatest country in the world, none of the 2,410 respondents (0 percent) was willing to label the state of the American economy “excellent."

“People feel eroded,” Democratic pollster Daniel Franklin, who helped conduct the study, said. “They’ve seen the strength of the middle class wane, and correspondingly, the country as a whole begin to falter.”

http://news.yahoo.com/centrist-study-123609146.html

[Popular Front of Judea]

Quick guess in whose presidential administration were the first affirmative action plans implemented.

[Questionable]

Quick guess in whose presidential administration were the first affirmative action plans implemented.

Without googling, was it Nixon?

Also it's good to see that reactionary 'constitutionalist' scum is in the minority.

I'm kind of shocked to see that a majority of people have a somewhat progressive view of abortion, though, considering clinics are nearly extinct in America, and the remaining few are hounded by politicians and populists.

EDIT: fuck yeah i was right about nixon

[Red_Banner]

Problem is too many people in the USA think the "Democrat Party" is leftist, when in reality it is very right-wing.

[vijaya]

I would say from my personal experiences in America, that from a European perspective most Americans are what I would call right-wing. Whether that most Americans are defined 'centrist' or not isn't the issue from an Across-the-Pond viewpoint; it's the what being 'centrist' means, and to me American centrist is the British right-leaning liberal.

[Os Cangaceiros]

God, politically-speaking what a boring ass group of people. Holy shit.

[Mañana]

I did the political compass test on my dial mail reading, a bit to racist nan, she came out about leftish centralist. Generally I think most people when u strip of the layers. Even in highly propagandized nations people are normally of very different political disposition than the policies enacted than suit the perceived authoritarian &/or economic interests of the powerful minority.

[Skyhilist]

It doesn't matter what they think, it matters what role they play in the system and whether or not they actually act on what they think. It's that they just vote every now and again and think they're doing a civic duty or some shit instead of actually changing things for the better. Centrism in theory should be directly between capitalism and communism, which would certainly be better than what we have now if people actually acted on it. Clearly, that's not what's going on so beliefs alone don't matter.

[Marxaveli]

I had this conversation with my mom (who has traditionally been a Democrat) and had to explain to her why Obama is actually right-wing. Not only because of his very position, which is an instrument to protect private capital, but that American political paradigms are very right shifted relative to the rest of the world. The Democratic party in most other western nations would probably be equal to or even to the right of the "right wing" parties, depending on which nation you are talking about.

America is so reactionary, it is quite disturbing to see really. This country is sooooooooo far to the right, no wonder they think Obama is a socialist. Heaven forbid someone happens to be ever so slightly to the left of Hayek, they must be a dirty pinko commie, heh.

[Comrade Jacob]

66% say that America is still the greatest country.

It's official, a clear majority of Americans are stupid, no matter how many people would argue stupid Americans are a minority. I'm sure all of us knew this already.
(In all fairness I'm sure the UK would say the same).

[Leftsolidarity]

It's interesting, though, that with the escalating threats against Syria and Iran the population has swelled with anti-war sentiment. I've seen some reports that said over 70% opposed more war. Along with that you have majority acceptance of LGBTQ rights, Women's reproductive rights (still limited though), secular, and don't have faith in the 2 major bourgeois parties. That is substantial in some ways.

The fact that most are opposed to affirmative action shows, I feel, that in these times of unending capitalist crisis the ruling class will intensify the divisions between white and oppressed workers. This is one of the reasons why it is so important to always defend the struggles of oppressed workers.

[MarxSchmarx]

God, politically-speaking what a boring ass group of people. Holy shit.

I don't understand what these people are centrist about, except on a very few cherry-picked issues. I guess the point of the article is that some people can be both strongly anti-war and nationalistic.

I think it's a problem of the questions the poll asked, and seems like it conveys the bias of the pollsters more than anything. I only read the news article tho so maybe the poll goes into greater depth.

It sounds like these respondents have given some thought to politics - despairing over the ruling parties in America is a step above a large number of their compatriots (although maybe not - I'm reminded of a television show from 2008 where an American contestant was unaware there was a presidential race that year).

[argeiphontes]

I caught part of this on MSNBC today. The expert interviewed said that during periods like the one we're in, the political spectrum expands. The host asked, why then, has the spectrum gone right but not left. The guy didn't have a good answer, just said that "it can be asymmetrical." Well, on this site we have some idea for why that is.

[revolutionarymir]

We can only hope that the Republican Party will continue to implode and fade away into the annals of history, so that the actual minority left-wing of the Democratic Party (which is, yes, very much right-wing at the end of the day) can wrest power from the "moderates". I'm afraid I don't believe the two party system can be beaten in this country.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Folks do understand that this is a survey of voters right - so that would probably exlude a lot of the poor, inmates and ex-fellons, and a lot of young people.

That being said, it isn't like there is a coherent political sentiment or grouping outside of the parties and their supporters, so I'm sure that overall these attitudes drive even non-voting sentiment because of any alternative. So it can give us a sense of certain tendencies probably, but doesn't tell us much for day to day "real" politics of communities and regular people dealing with things.

[Flying Purple People Eater]

centrism is a myth. A right-wing populist myth.

The country is so far right-wing that they call neoliberals who try to implement private healthcare 'leftists'. I swear, most of the right-wingers here don't even come close to some of the monsters in the democrats (although the situation is changing).

What an insane place.