# Does the moderate left in the US need a more radical left

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-moderate-left-in-the-us-need-a-more-radical-left/525412>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [January 18, 2010, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-moderate-left-in-the-us-need-a-more-radical-left/525412 "2010-01-18T11:34:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 30

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-moderate-left-in-the-us-need-a-more-radical-left/525412/30 "2010-01-18T17:58:32Z")

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BTW, a new [Washington Post Poll](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_011610.html) asked people the following question:

> [@](#):
>
> Generally speaking, would you say you favor (smaller government with fewer services), or (larger government with more services)?

The result: 58% said they wanted smaller government with fewer services, and only 38% said they wanted larger government with more services.

The same poll asked people to identify themselves as liberal, moderate, or conservative. The result was 25% liberal, 34% moderate, and 38% conservative.

You’re just going to have to face the fact that you live in a center-right country, where most people are skeptical of big government and conservative or moderate in outlook. And that the real liberals are actually a fairly small percentage of the country.

And you know, these numbers will probably get bigger for conservatives. I’m actually quite surprised tha they are as high as they are after 8 years of Bush leading into a major recession. If the Democrats continue to govern from the left, and the economy doesn’t make a dramatic turnaround, you’re going to see a majority of the country calling itself conservative and ‘liberal’ will once again be a dirty word that no one wants to claim for themselves.

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