Media Matters and the Campaign for America’s Future teamed up for a remarkably thorough report on the evident trends of U.S. public opinion. We’re already all-too-familiar with the conventional wisdom, hammered home by the media: the United States is a conservative country, uncomfortable with social change, unconcerned with class differences, and distrustful of an active federal government.
All of the available evidence suggests the conventional wisdom is completely wrong.
Media perceptions and past Republican electoral successes notwithstanding, Americans are progressive across a wide range of controversial issues, and they’re growing more progressive all the time.
This report gathers together years of public opinion data from unimpeachably nonpartisan sources to show that on issue after issue, the majority of Americans hold progressive positions. And this is true not only of specific policy proposals, but of the fundamental perspectives and approaches that Americans bring to bear on issues.
Nor is the progressive majority merely a product of the current political moment. On a broad array of issues, particularly social issues, American opinion has grown more and more progressive over the past few decades. In contrast, it is difficult to find an issue on which the public has grown steadily more conservative over the last 10, 20, or 30 years.
It’s hard to argue with the results; they’re pretty one-sided. Americans generally won’t describe themselves as “liberal” — self-described moderates and conservatives have generated far bigger numbers nationally for years — but ideological labels aside, the MM/CAF report makes clear that on “nearly all the key issues confronting the country,” the electorate prefers a progressive approach to a conservative one. That includes everything from economics to health care, national security to social policy. The liberal approach is, oddly enough, the mainstream position.
In a political context, it suggests Democratic candidates need not fear progressive ideas, assuming they’ll be rejected as too liberal.
This is of particular concern when it comes to national security. For the better part of 20 years, Americans have preferred Dems to the GOP on every domestic policy. There have been occasional fluctuations here and there, but that’s been a relative constant.
So why have Dems only controlled the White House for eight of the last 27 years? Because national security and foreign policy have repeatedly trumped everything else.
The Dems’ understanding of, and respect for, this reality has consistently been misguided. In 2002, for example, the Dem strategy for national security was “change the subject.” We’d cede national security to the White House and stick to health care, the economy and education. It didn’t work. Dems said, “But voters are with us on the issues!” It missed the point — if the electorate thinks Bush and the GOP will do a better job than Dems in keeping the country safe, the other issues simply don’t matter nearly as much as the consultants would like. Giving up the issue was a recipe for failure.
Which was another reason the MM/CAF report was encouraging.
Americans support a progressive approach to national security, emphasizing strong alliances and diplomacy over the indiscriminate use of military force. On domestic security issues, progressive approaches to crime and gun control enjoy wide support.
Dems don’t need to abandon security issues; they need to forcefully articulate a progressive vision on security issues. They have nothing to be afraid of — voters are already on their side.
There’s a lot to chew on in this report. Take a look. If you’re a Democratic politician, commit it to memory.