Also, the last time Republicans won 50% (Lowell - 11/16/2008 12:20:08 PM)
of the popular vote for House of Representatives was in 1946.
In the same paper, George Will writes, "'Socialism'? It's Already Here." According to Will, Republicans have been busy "partially nationalizing the banking system, putting Detroit on the dole and looking around to see if some bit of what is smilingly called 'the private sector' has been inadvertently left off the ever-expanding list of entities eligible for a bailout from the $1 trillion or so that is to be "spread around."
Even President Bush throws in the towel, commenting that he's a "free market person...until you're told that if you don't take decisive measures then it's conceivable that our country could go into a depression greater than the Great Depression."
Meanwhile, whether or not people call themselves "conservative," here are their views on actual issues. You can judge for yourself whether or not these are "center right" or "center left" positions, but to me it's pretty obvious (I've put the "center-right" positions in red).
Abortion
Pro-choice: 53%
Pro-life: 44%
Death Penalty vs. Life in Prison Without Parole (for murder)
Death penalty: 47%
Life in prison without parole: 44%
Global Warming
Extremely, very or somewhat important issue: 78%
Not too important: 13%
U.S. should take action even if other countries do less than we do: 68% yes, 13% "not take action at all"
Guns
"Would you like to see gun laws in this country made more strict, less strict, or remain as they are?": 49% "more strict," 11% "less strict," 38% "remain as are"
Gun registration: 79% support, 20% oppose
Waiting period for gun purchases: 86% support, 14% oppose
Health care
Should government guarantee health insurance for all? 64% yes, 27% no
Give health insurance to all uninsured children? 84% favor, 11% oppose
U.S. health care system needs fundamental changes (54%); to be "completely rebuilt" (36%)
Immigration
"Should immigration be kept at its present level, increased or decreased?" 39% "present level," 18% "increased," 39% "decreased"
"On the whole, do you think immigration is a good thing or a bad thing for this country today?" 64% "good thing," 30% "bad thing"
Gay Marriage, Civil Unions
"Should gay and lesbian couples be allowed to marry, giving them full legal rights of married couples, or not?" 47% "should," 47% "should not"
"Do you think same-sex couples should be allowed legally to marry, should be allowed legally to form civil unions but not marry, or should not be allowed to obtain legal recognition of their relationships?" 32% "legally marry," 33% "form civil unions," 29% "no legal recognition"
"Do you think homosexuals who DO publicly disclose their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the military or not?" 75% "Should be allowed," 22% "should not be"
Social Security
Invest in stock market or bonds? 62% oppose, 36% favor
School vouchers for private or religious schools
55% oppose, 40% support
Trade
"Does NAFTA need to be renegotiated?" 56% "yes," 16% "no"
Free trade good for economy? 36% "no," 34% "yes,"
Free trade takes jobs away from Americans? 54% "yes," 23% "no"
In sum, America is pro-choice on abortion, is skeptical of "free trade," believes gay unions should have legal recognition and that gays should be able to serve openly in the military, believes in universal health care, favors waiting periods and registration for gun purchases, opposes investing Social Security in the stock market, believes we need to take action on global warming, and opposes vouchers for private or religious schools. Does that sound "center-right" to you?
UPDATE: I see that our friend Jeff Frederick is at it again, this time claiming that "Conservative Principles Still Prevail in Virginia." Of course, Frederick provides no evidence that this is the case, simply asserts it and then expects people to take it on faith. Well, here in the reality-based universe most of us live in, that doesn't cut it. Where's your evidence, Mr. Frederick, that in Virginia - which voted for Barack Obama and Mark Warner and which now has given Democrats a 6-5 edge in the House delegation (compared to 8-3 in favor of Republicans prior to November 4) - "conservative principles still prevail?" [cue sound of crickets chirping...chirp, chirp, chirp]
Think about it this way: Republicans have lost the popular vote in 4 of the last 5 presidential elections. Claiming America is a center-right country is to believe the Rays won the World Series.
I personally think these commentators are whistling in the dark, hoping, once again, to tell the public what to think, that saying makes it so (like the endless repetition about WMDs or deficits don't matter), and the statistics presented in this diary show how stubbornly the Republican-conservative world view lingers on, even if clearly a minority view. Obama and the Democrats are facing enormous pressure from The Establishment not to rock the boat, to leave things basically as they are while making blather about "Change"---- to indulge in the usual Washington shell game, in other words.
It will be one of the tasks of the grassroots and blogs to protect the Democratic victory and ensure that Obama is not induced to fritter away progressive change while negotiating; the grassroots must force those newly elected Democrats to stay in line... after all, those statistics are national, and each new Congressperson comes from a gerrmandered district that actually may be artifically designed to give weight to center-right, brainswashed Republican-leaning voters, and we cannot allow the freshman legislators to be browbeaten by them or The Establishment. We voted for Change, no matter what the Inside-Beltway pundits want to believe, and we intend to get it.
Its still early though and I want him to succeed. After all I did vote for the guy.
As far as the main thrust of the article the question is simple. Do you consider yourself a liberal, moderate or conservative. I don;t have time to grab the links but conservatives still outnumber liberals.
Currently the Ds have more moderates like myself but if yall start pushing too hard on the left we will exit stage right. History shows this will happen anyway in 2010.
Finally many of the new democratic districts are represented by conservative democrats. Some of these early votes are going to be very interesting. Should be great political theater.