I’m new in these parts but I’ve been reading a lot trying to decide if the place is worth taking a flyer on and I’ve come to the conclusion that I cannot come to a conclusion. :smack: I’m reasonably sure that there is a mix of voices present here but what is the average poster here like politically, a Democrat or Republican? Or is this like the media where each side claims the other has the influence and scoffs when that is presented the other way…
(For the record, my decision on paying does not depend on the answer to this so no need to send out the lobbyists… :))
Egads, it just occured to me that this might not be posted in the right forum… I was actually referring to this particular forum and saw how the question would probably lead to a debate in and of itself. Apologies if this was off topic…
There are many non-US posters here, especially European, Canadian and Australian. Those countries are, on average, to the left of the US, so that introduces a leftward slant, relative to the US center.
If you look at things economically and socially, you will find many right and many left leaning economic types, and many left leaning social types, but very few right leaning social types. For example, many of the posters here who are labeled “conservative” support same sex marriage. To your typical American, this board would appear pretty left leaning, especially in the social sphere. Not that social conservatives are unheard of, they’re just much rarer here than in the US as a whole.
You will probably find that if any group is overrepresented here , it’s those who lean towards a libertarian philosophy.
I tend to think of this board as neither left nor right, but in front.
Of course, that’s also the motto of the Green Party…
Seriously, this place tends to be biased in favour of citable facts. Which tends to knock the legs out from under people whose arguments are based on emotional, irrational, or other non-factual appeals.
Hey, John, I am not prepared to get into an argument about the Political Compass and whether or not it is biased. But do me a favor: Google up “Jerry Pournelle” and “Pournelle axes” and see if you think he’s biased. (In fact, that might make an interesting discussion in and of itself.)
I’m familiar with him, but I’m not really sure what your point is about “bias”. I never used that term, but in this context it’s impossible to avoid, and not necessarily bad. Any political measurement has to be measured in reference to something. There is no objective center, especially if we’re talking about international politics. The most carefully “unbiased” chart has to put 0,0 somewhere, so even if the questions themselves are perfect, you still have to pick a center, and that is going to not only be somewhat arbitrary, but is going to vary from country to country.
Hah! What a clever, witty and heretofore unknown thought. Would that I could be so original.
In re: the OP, ISTM there’s been a definite influx of conservatives in the last month or three. Some have been quite thoughful and therefore welcome, others less so.
And there’s a reason for that. Social conservatives got NOTHING in the area of rationality to lean on. They get pummelled senseless on the rare occasions when they pipe up on the issues.that define them (as they should). I wouldnt’ be surprised to learn that there are social conservatives posting on MPSIMS or Cafe Society or General Questions, but who don’t post in Great Debates or the Pit or IMHO on social conservatism issues.
Left leaning compared to what? By who’s yardstick? Seems you mean by the US’s. In that case I’d say its definitely left leaning, with a majority of posters probably being ‘independant’ but leaning towards the Democrat party (though I’m not sure anyone has ever asked that particular question…i.e. are you are Democrat, Republican or Other).
As others have said the board leans ‘left’ (using US standards) on social issues…heavily in fact as only a few folks are socially conservative on this board (there are a lot of Libertarian/libertarian’s on this board…including your’s truely). Economically I’d say the board may actually lean a bit ‘right’ or be more fiscally conservative, though maybe a more accurate reading is that its all over the board but more posters are right of center economically than left. Those who are left though are WAY left.
Well, I don’t know about 136%, but there were several polls showing a heavy leaning towards Kerry. There was also a thread a while ago (not SM’s thread another one) that showed a distribution of dopers on a political scale…and it showed a definite left leaning bent (left leaning by US standards…probably radically right wing by certain Euro standards ).
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