----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Land" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <brin-l@mccmedia.com> Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2005 9:15 PM Subject: Re: The American Political Landscape Today
> Gautam, et al, > > I'm writing to retract my previous message. I reject your > categorization of me as being out of the mainstream. Moreover, I found > your message a little short on what I'll call intellectual honesty. > > First, you admittedly pulled your numbers out of your ... um ... head, > whereas this thread was discussing *actual* numbers from a poll that > has been conducted for 15 years by the Pew Research Center. Guess which > ones I consider to have more weight? > > Second, your four groups of 20% are skewed to the right. Why didn't you > have five groups: > > Very Conservative 20% > Conservative 20% > Moderate 20% > Liberal 20% > Very Liberal 20% > -- Source: My Ass > > Using the above categories, which at least provide a centered spectrum, > feel free to provide your own numbers. > > Third, I don't understand why your four categories only added up to > 80%, leaving out 20% of the population. Do you think that the opinions > of 20% of Americans don't count, or that 20% don't have any opinions? > That is certainly heading in the direction of at least one finding in > the Pew report: 63% of respondents feel that "Most elected officials > don't care what people like me think." > > Perhaps your story would be better served with these groupings (with no > bullshit numbers): Extremely Conservative, Very Conservative, > Moderately Conservative, Mildly Conservative, Lunatic Fringe. > > Returning to meaningful results of an actual poll, the categories and > percentages under discussion are: > > Right-leaning: > Enterprisers 9% > Social Conservatives 11% > Pro-Government Conservatives 9% > > Centrist/Unaffiliated: > Upbeats 11% > Disaffecteds 9% > Bystanders 10% > > Left-leaning: > Conservative Democrats 14% > Disadvantaged Democrats 10% > Liberals 17% > > As you can see, the Liberals *as defined by the Pew report* are the > largest bloc. The "mainstream," one might say. > > For the three general groupings that the Pewsters created, the > percentages are: > > Right-leaning 29% > Centrist/Neither 30% > Left-leaning 41% Well, that is very curious, since self-identification has long given different results. For example, the Harris poll asks people to identify themselves as liberal, moderate, or conservative. The results have been: Year C M L 2003 33 40 18 2002 35 40 17 2001 36 40 19 2000 35 40 18 1999 37 39 18 1998 37 40 19 1997 37 40 19 1996 38 41 19 1995 40 40 16 1992 36 42 18 1991 37 41 18 1990 38 41 18 1989 37 42 17 1988 38 39 18 1987 37 39 19 1986 37 39 18 1985 37 40 17 1984 35 39 18 1983 36 40 18 1982 36 40 18 1981 38 40 17 1980 35 41 18 1979 35 39 20 1978 34 39 17 1977 30 42 17 1976 31 40 18 1975 30 38 18 1974 30 43 15 1972 31 36 20 1968 37 31 17 Among other things, it's a amazing to lump folks who call themselves conservatives among liberals. The questions sound kinda funny. It doesn't add to 100% because everyone doesn't self-identify. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
