Quote:
Originally Posted by dyna mo
From 2000 through 2006, Democrats were much more likely to describe their ideology as moderate than as liberal. In 2007, the year the Democratic Party regained control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994, the two lines converged, with Democrats equally likely to call themselves moderates or liberals. Now, in each of the last two years, Democrats have been more likely to describe their views as liberal than as moderate.
Liberal Self-Identification Edges Up to New High in 2013 |
You can see the trend in your own graph.. The rise of people whom self relate as "liberal" directly corelates with the decline of those whom call themselves moderate. It wasn't people whom called themselves conservatives suddenly calling themselves liberal, it was moderate suddenly seeing themselves as liberal.
The point of your link has nothing to do with what I'm saying.. Previously most democrats viewed themselves as moderates. There wasn't any real liberal candidates to look toward..
Warren and Sanders both started rocking the ship in the Democratic port around the same time and speaking out against the status que of the Democratic Party. They started getting noticed and suddenly people started agreeing with them. When this happened democrats whom often considered themselves moderates started to view themselves as liberal.
The Republican Party also has its share of blame for the rise of liberals. Republicans have been throwing around the liberal term as an insult for quite some time now. I mean fuck they have called McCain too liberal for god's sake.. With the right going further and further to the right many on the left push back and go further to the left.
It's kinda like The right coined the name Obamacare as an insult of ACA. Obama did the smart thing took the name and ran with it. Now you rarely hear right wing polititions revering to it as Obamacare but rather ACA..
People on the left are doing the same.. The right uses the term liberal as an insult, now people on the left are taking the name and owning it. Your same poll in 2015 will show a dramatic rise of people identifying as liberal.
Sanders whom identify a as liberal, is drawing the largest crowds of any candidate running including Trump and Hillary.