This is a serious question, but one where a factual answer likely does not exist. According to Gallup, as of 2010 conservatives were (and have been) the largest ideological group in the US. 42% of adults surveyed identified as conservative or very conservative, 35% as moderate and only 20% as liberal or very liberal.
As cursory browsing through opinion/debate threads on the SDMB leads me to believe the mix here is much more than 20% liberal. I’d venture a guess that it is close to or over 50%. What is it that pulls the liberal viewpoint to this site in greater preportion than the general public? Or is it just my perception?
I know the mix is different outside the US, and conservative/liberal ideologies don’t match up well in many cases. I presume that while the board membership is certainly international, the bulk of the posters are US citizens. Don’t let that stop you furriners from responding, though!
It’s partly that there aren’t even. While more than 20% of the SDMB might be described as at least liberal, they wouldn’t necessarily self-identify as such, which they would need to to match the poll. I’d say that more than 20% would, but perhaps not many more: we’d get a substantial number of moderates as well.
Also, this perception is perhaps blind to the bent toward libertarianism we have on the board. This is understandable because the 'net in general bends that way, so when you compare to other message boards we seem on the liberal end of that. But there are plenty of free market advocates that are nonetheless socially liberal here, but that gets overlooked because such people are a dime a dozen on the 'net, but probably not so much in real life.
You need to define what you mean by “conservative”.
I identify as conservative and I have no problem being here because conservative <> stupid.
From a public policy perspective, I am fiscally conservative and would be socially libertarian IF they followed their stated beliefs before they started going all right-wing.
From a personal (how I live my life), I am more socially conservative than the average person on SDMB.
If you were to say that there are a lot of ill informed people running around claiming a conservative mantle, then I would have to agree with that. BUT, I don’t think this board would be very attractive to those who like to participate in self-supporting echo chambers (e.g. everyone agrees that Obama was born on Neptune and is really a pod person bent on dominating the globe for the purpose of providing a feed lot to his Neptune overlords)
I imagine it’s for the same reason that atheists are also represented in larger proportion than normal. At least by my estimates (please don’t ask for a poll.)
Look at NYT compared with WP. One leans left, the other right, generally speaking, and attracts a similarly minded readership.
My opinion is based on their editorials, columnists and to some extent the posts by the readers. Perhaps I have it all wrong though. Perhaps all these years I’ve considered myself a liberal when I’m actually a conservative. :dubious:
BTW, I’m not making the claim that WP is a right wing rag. I’m just saying compared to the NYT, it’s surely more conservative. No?
I agree this board is extremely liberal overall but I don’t think the mod staff determine that. People have gotten warned or told not to repeat for calling me names when I aired my conservative viewpoints.
Conservatives tend to hide in their media bubble. This board allows non-conservatives to speak and conservative claims to be criticized, therefore it is hostile to the typical internet conservatives whose usual method of argument is to have the mods ban the person disagreeing with them.
That’s exactly why I limited my data to a US Gallop poll. It’s difficult enough defining those terms within a country, nigh on impossible between them!
I should point out that woo usually associated with the left, such as anti-vax or trutherism, gets treated just as harshly here.
And I think it is more the ability to make and support a logical argument rather than plain smarts.
Liberals have a high appreciation for intelligence, open mindedness, humor, compassion and other wide ranging interests that I haven’t found elsewhere.
BTW, wasn’t there a poll here about political leanings?
If I had to guess, I’d say this board is probably 80% self-identified liberal. But not everyone who identifies as liberal (or conservative, for that matter) shares the exact same ideology, so the ‘‘hive mind’’ argument that some conservative Dopers claim just doesn’t wash to me. The high rate of liberals, combined with the handful of posters who insult conservatives every chance they get, may give people the impression that this board is virulently anti-conservative, but the reality is this vocal minority does not speak for the board as a whole. The fact that some of our most vocal conservatives tend to say very silly things and are ridiculed because of it may also contribute to this impression. But in those cases I don’t think most posters are ridiculing them for conservativism, per se, but rather willful ignorance. Dopers are just as happy to drag liberal woo-types through the mud as they are to go after fundamentalists.
I understand this is a hard distinction to make - there are some days I just throw up my hands and scream ''Why are most Dopers sexist minsanthropic assholes?!" but of course I am just responding to a tiny minority and eventually I’ll take a second look at what has been said by whom and realize that I am overgeneralizing based on one or two comments.
from responding, though!