And that could partly answer the OP’s question. Some people are Democrats because they support the progressivism, not the liberalism. And others are Democrats because they support the liberalism–but they think liberal means progressive, so they won’t self-identify as liberal.
It’s not that it’s a more nuanced poll. It’s a poll that gets around the self-identification problem. It shows that there are in fact similar numbers of Democrats and people who agree with what we consider liberal positions. They just don’t call themselves liberals.
Heck, it’s probably the best answer to your question: people just don’t like the word “liberal.” They refuse to identify as liberal even if anyone observing them could tell they are definitely left-wing.
Opposition is not hostility. Otherwise all primary fights would be hostile. And there has been no one with the clout of a Rush screaming at anyone not following the party line.
And they were blue dog Democrats we’ve heard of because they were in conservative districts. Liberal Republicans often lost for the same reason. That isn’t being kicked out of the party.
Indeed. I mean Catholic view of government is one that is for a big social welfare state, but very traditional morality, and you see this at times within the “Christian Democratic” parties in Europe.
Socialism as defined by the neoliberal economies of the Scandinavian nations tapered by extensive social welfare programs?
Nah…young people want to demonize corporations and the rich, hear why they are victims, and get free stuff. Let’s not hinge our economic intellectual prowess on my generation. They need to grow up and realize Facebook posts aren’t the real world.
The idea that Democrat = Liberal and Republican = Conservative is a very recent one. From within my lifetime, and I’m 33. There used to be liberal and conservative members of both parties.
Can you provide a list of people who have been kicked out of the Republican party for being too liberal? I can’t think of one.
I have views that would be classified as Liberal, and we have a polarized system anymore. Republicans actively oppose the things I believe to be right, so I vote against Republicans. This means that I vote for Democrats without really identifying as a Democrat.
Has anyone ever been kicked out of either party? The idea here is one of self-segregation. Liberals stopped feeling welcome in the Republican Party and conservatives stopped feeling welcome in the Democratic Party, and they voluntarily switched, either their positions or their party, in order to feel accepted. This happened both with voters and elected officials. Nobody kicked anybody out, this was an organic change that happened over the last century (but really solidified around R = C and D = L within the last 30-40 years or so).
As a general rule, liberalism is winning. The country’s policies have gradually moved to what used to be the default leftist position on most* major issues, either via the ballot box or the courts. It makes sense that fewer people will be on the leading edge - where we’re going - versus the middle or the old “default” positions.
*Obviously this is not a hard-and-fast rule; liberals have lost the gun debate, the tort reform debate, much of the union debate, and are losing the legislative battle over abortion and would be losing it by an even greater margin if not for a narrow SCOTUS majority.
It means not all Democrats consider themselves to be liberal, and party leaders are fine with that because it means more votes.
Are we done now?
Yes. Nowadays, some people use the terms interchangably. It’s weird.
Note that the poll quoted in the OP only offers the answers given since 1992. It says nothing about what terms Americans would have applied to themselves before 1992. It also says nothing about whether the terms “liberal,” “conservative,” and “moderate” mean the same thing now as they did half a century ago or a century ago or two centuries ago.