Related to this is the question of whether there really is a median voter. Let's take 10 issues--abortion, gun control, gay rights, trade policy, tax rates, immigration, middle east policy, racial preferences, CO2/"global warming" policy, and SDI/"star wars" missile defense. What percentage of the electorate is in the middle quintile (if we could quantify these issues) on all 10?
The General Social Survey is online and has a lot of information on public opinion, though not all of these exact topics. At least on a crude measure of "do you want more/less/the same" level of spending or regulation, the median position is usually "the same."
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Prof. Bryan Caplan
Department of Economics George Mason University
http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] "But being alone he had begun to conceive thoughts of
his own unlike those of his brethren."--J.R.R. Tolkien, *The Silmarillion*
