Is the US currently center-left, center, or center-right?

[Hardkill]

Lately, I've been wondering about what has currently been the average political stance of the US overall. According to one of the most recent Gallup polls, 36% of Americans identify as conservatives, 34% identify as moderates, while just 25% identify as liberals. That poll, therefore implies that the US is currently center-right overall. Politicians such as Mitt Romney have also said that our still is still center-right. Also, one opinion writer for the Hill said that the country is still center-right. Yet, according to news sources such as Boston Globe and magazines such as the The Atlantic which also talk about political issues have mentioned that our nation is moving towards the left or is currently center-left. I believe that at least of couple of people on this forum have also said or implied that our country is center-left. Perhaps if take the average of all of these opinions or beliefs then that would mean that the USA is overall just in the very center? What do you guys think?

[Leo Gura]

It's relative to where you stand.

[Joel3102]

In Australia the US is generally considered right

[Yali]

20 minutes ago, Joel3102 said:

In Australia the US is generally considered right

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Yali

[Joel3102]

1 hour ago, Yali said:

 

Lol I forgot about that. But everybody except the fringe fucking hates her in Australia. That’d be a good example for the stage blue mega thread 

[DocWatts]

The US is ______________.

I'd argue dysfunctional (or developmentally imbalanced) would be a better word to put in there than Center-Left or Center-Right, since where a place is along the Left/Right spectrum is always going to be perspectival to some degree.

The issue is that the US is a large and diverse country with regions that are both very Progressive and others that are still quite Conservative. Our Federal Government is dysfunctional in the way that it fails to proportionally represent this diverse range of interests, due to the continued existence of antiquated Institutions such as the Electoral College and the make up of the Senate, both of which give an outsized voice to rural (ie Conservative) regions within the US.

Edited March 8, 2021 by DocWatts

[Rilles]

US is definitely Center-Right.

[Hardkill]

On 3/7/2021 at 11:25 PM, Leo Gura said:

It's relative to where you stand.

I see. So, it's not really clear as to where on the left–right political spectrum the country is at overall. Therefore, it's kinda up to one's own opinion on where we are.

Though, why is it that democratic presidential candidates have always gotten more popular votes than republican presidential candidates do ever since the 90s (except in 2004 when it was Bush vs. Kerry)? Also, why is it that people like you have said that "The only reason Democrats lose is because they have a huge demographic disadvantage with the electoral college and the senate system"?

Then again, why have we had for many years way more Republican state legislatures than Democratic state legislatures and more Republican governors than Democratic governors throughout the US ?

 

 

[Lyubov]

Center right compared to a lot of European countries

Quite liberal compared to most other countries.

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, Hardkill said:

Though, why is it that democratic presidential candidates have always gotten more popular votes than republican presidential candidates do ever since the 90s (except in 2004 when it was Bush vs. Kerry)? Also, why is it that people like you have said that "The only reason Democrats lose is because they have a huge demographic disadvantage with the electoral college and the senate system"?

This is irrelevant.

Even if Dems won every election, the situation would still be relative. Most Dems are pretty conservative relative to Europe and stage Yellow/Turquoise possibilities.

Today's worst conservatives are still liberals compared to the Confederate plantation owners. See, 150 years ago, someone like Ben Shapiro would defend slave ownership as passionately as he defends his views today. So relatively speaking, Ben Shapiro is a crazy liberal today.

And Islamists in the Middle East believe that all Americans, including the conservatives, are crazy liberals. In the Saudi Arabia Ben Shapiro might be executed for being too liberal and too tolerant.

[Hardkill]

On 3/9/2021 at 5:22 PM, Leo Gura said:

This is irrelevant.

Even if Dems won every election, the situation would still be relative. Most Dems are pretty conservative relative to Europe and stage Yellow/Turquoise possibilities.

Today's worst conservatives are still liberals compared to the Confederate plantation owners. See, 150 years ago, someone like Ben Shapiro would defend slave ownership as passionately as he defends his views today. So relatively speaking, Ben Shapiro is a crazy liberal today.

And Islamists in the Middle East believe that all Americans, including the conservatives, are crazy liberals. In the Saudi Arabia Ben Shapiro might be executed for being too liberal and too tolerant.

Yeah, that's all true.  

I actually wonder why are we behind countries such as the Western and Northern European ones, Australia, and Canada. Is it because we have a lot more stupid and evil people in the US than European countries, Australia, and Canada have?

[Leo Gura]

5 hours ago, Hardkill said:

Yeah, that's all true.  

I actually wonder why are we behind countries such as the Western and Northern European ones, Australia, and Canada. Is it because we have a lot more stupid and evil people in the US than European countries, Australia, and Canada have?

Mostly: religion

It's made 50% of the country morons.

[Hardkill]

5 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Mostly: religion

It's made 50% of the country morons.

So, the most advanced countries in the world like Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Scandanavian countries, and what have you have the least amount of religious people per capita?

[snowyowl]

10 hours ago, Hardkill said:

So, the most advanced countries in the world like Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Scandanavian countries, and what have you have the least amount of religious people per capita?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religions_by_country

It's not quite so simple because 'communist' countries like China and North Korea are counted as being less religious, and it also depends what you mean by 'advanced'.  But I guess if you can get a combination of liberal stage orange development you're onto a good trajectory. 

On 08/03/2021 at 6:53 AM, Hardkill said:

36% of Americans identify as conservatives, 34% identify as moderates, while just 25% identify as liberals.

I'm a bit confused by this, surely liberals are moderates?? I suspect there's a difference in definitions as in the UK, terms like liberal and social democratic means in the political centre, not left wing which is more like socialism. 

[Hardkill]

On 3/11/2021 at 10:25 AM, snowyowl said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religions_by_country

It's not quite so simple because 'communist' countries like China and North Korea are counted as being less religious, and it also depends what you mean by 'advanced'.  But I guess if you can get a combination of liberal stage orange development you're onto a good trajectory. 

I'm a bit confused by this, surely liberals are moderates?? I suspect there's a difference in definitions as in the UK, terms like liberal and social democratic means in the political centre, not left wing which is more like socialism. 

Then, maybe the main thing that impedes countries from evolving to higher levels isn't religion. It could primarily be because of how many people within a country cling on to a certain set of old fashion ideologies or traditional beliefs on how the world is supposed to work.

Regarding whether liberals are moderates, it is confusing because most democrats are moderate to varying degrees and the Democratic Party has always been one of the two major political parties our country has had since 1828. Also, according to wikipedia, "Since the 1960s, the Democratic Party has been considered liberal and the Republican Party has been considered conservative." Yet, technically being liberal means leaning more toward the left. That's why there have actually been liberal Republicans in the US, even though the vast majority of Republicans are conservatives.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Hardkill

[Leo Gura]

It's not just religion, it's the dogmatic mindset that religion instills in people.

The problem in America is excessive stage Blue dogma the obstructs much-needed progress.

Europeans are less enmeshed in that, thus they are more open to stage Green progressive governance.

Christian fundamentalism has hijacked the minds of many Americans, making progressive politics nearly impossible. It's like trying to drag a mule up Mt Everest. So here we are.

Europe is not perfect. They still have religion and stage Blue, just less so, and less powerful. Europe is more secular.

You have to understand that religion does not work in isolation. Religion creates an entire worldview and paradigm that infects many other aspects of life: work, economics, healthcare, education, politics, etc. It all comes as one package such that when you try to get a person to question their ideas of abortion or capitalism or guns or education or immigration  -- they perceive it as an attack on their God. It's a giant tangled meme-complex, not just a few separate memes.

[Lyubov]

It seems like more ethnically homogenous countries have an easier job instilling collective social policies if they have the means to. I haven't done a full case study but it seems so at a quick glance. 

[Girzo]

Poland is ethnically homogenous and in Europe, yet we are still dominated by Christian fundamentalists.

We have a complete ban of abortion, "Zones free from LGBT", cutting out wood from national parks, incredibly big nonsensical infrastructure projects, propaganda national media, supporting the Church financially and other such bullshit.

Our right-wingers are not libertarian types, though. They vote for raises in minimum wage (quite aggressive ones, too), improving social security for old people, universal additional income for parents and that kind of policies.

They like to talk how ecologically-minded they are and talk fairytales on this topic, full of promises, that never get fulfilled. They don't give a dime about ecology, but are forced to keep saying so by the political climate, I guess.

Yeah, they constantly get into a feud with the European Commission over breaking of human and constitutional laws. They do what they want.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Girzo

[damas]

Center right - kids in cages, wealth inequality, not high enough wages, american exceptionalism.

[NatureB]

I'd say our people average to center. Biden is president and he is basically in the center but leans left. Most people I meet are the old "socially liberal, fiscally conservative."

But I get the feeling that whatever the answer is to the question is too vague to matter. We have liberals on both coasts and conservatives in rural areas and the middle US states, especially the South.

As older people die off and younger generations grow up with more Stage Green values, we will go full-left.