# Dopers - What Political Persuasion? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 15, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304 "2005-10-15T00:29:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/1 "2005-10-15T00:29:55Z")
I get the feeling that most of the heavy posters in the Pit or in GD lean a wee bit to the left. How do you think the active Doper population breaks down between… ? Loony Libs Thoughtful Libs Right down the middle Thoughtful Conservatives Right-wing Extremists ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/2 "2005-10-15T00:39:01Z")
Yeah…just a _wee_ bit. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/3 "2005-10-15T00:43:25Z")
I still consider myself to be a moderate, somewhere in the middle. Feel free to call me on it though. How we see ourselves isn’t alway how others see us. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/4 "2005-10-15T00:48:21Z")
I’d say the dope leans towards the thoughtful sides of politics overall. We’ve a few hardcore nuts, but we tend to be reasonable overall. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/5 "2005-10-15T01:14:46Z")
Why is this in the Pit? Anyhow, what **Harborwolf** said. I generally find conservatives and socialists to be annoying and thoughtless, and the vapid middle to be a Ziploc bag full of last week’s sound bites, and speaking as a radical anarchist I’ll freely admit that most anarchists spout opinions that a 3rd grader could poke holes in, and put their fingers in their ears when you call them on it. Not on this board. Not only will you find every political stripe in here, you’ll learn from those who defend them, whether you end up agreeing with them or not. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/6 "2005-10-15T01:20:59Z")
My unscientific observation is that the board leans to the left somewhat, although there’s a pretty strong libertarian contingent. Bush-supporters are in a very small minority. But I’ll agree with what’s been said, that the common thread on the dope is that there’s more intelligent debate here than I’ve seen anywhere else, including the round table discussions on television. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/7 "2005-10-15T01:38:42Z")
Whatever I am, a president hasn’t been elected in my time who represents me at all. That said, I consider myself a middle of the roader. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/8 "2005-10-15T01:42:03Z")
Heavens to Betsy. You shouldn’t ask people to self-identify. You’ll find this place full of nothing but thoughtful moderates (which I clearly am) or thoughtful (but ever so _slightly_) liberals and conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/9 "2005-10-15T01:43:38Z")
It’s no coincidence that a board dedicated to fighting ignorance leans to the left. The purpose of this place is to _cut through the bullshit_. Yeah, I said it. \ ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/10 "2005-10-15T01:45:20Z")
The board is definitely left-leaning. However, there are several well-spoken, intelligent conservatives as well. I avoid political threads for the most part, because whatever my opinion is on a subject, someone else has already expressed more eloquently than I ever could. ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/11 "2005-10-15T02:13:26Z")
> [@What the .... ?!?!](#): > > I get the feeling that most of the heavy posters in the Pit or in GD lean a wee bit to the left. > > How do you think the active Doper population breaks down between… ? > > Loony Libs > Thoughtful Libs > Right down the middle > Thoughtful Conservatives > Right-wing Extremists Cripes. This post is so transparent I almost couldn’t read it. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/12 "2005-10-15T02:22:48Z")
Once you become a member (and you will), you’ll be able to search and pull up threads like [this one.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=331106) This has been discussed many, many times; you’ve seen some of the oft-repeated themes here already though, such as **World Eater** ’s sort of broadmindedness. – **furt** (batshit loony extremist) ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/13 "2005-10-15T02:34:21Z")
I’m a conservative Democrat. Try getting most of the people to the left of THAT to understand it. Just a few minutes ago, **rjung** , who definitely skews somewhere to the left of the Loony Libs(and is quite proud of it) classified me as the “Extreme Right”. 😃 I’m guessing that Mars looks like it’s practically in Sol’s corona from Pluto too. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-what-political-persuasion/326304/14 "2005-10-15T04:09:45Z")
Wrong forum, and someone’s provided a link to a previous thread. Closing this thread. Lynn For the Straight Dope