Dems win moderates, conservatives dominate GOP

[ProSense]

Dems win moderates, conservatives dominate GOP

Here's an interesting takeaway from the exit polls: Democratic candidates for Congress won more votes from self-described moderates than they did from liberals. Meanwhile, Republicans swept to victory on a coalition dominated by conservatives -- two out of every three ballots cast for a GOP candidate on Tuesday was cast by a self-described conservative.

Here's a look at the numbers in graphic form:



In 2006, exit polls showed that 55% of Republicans votes came from conservatives. In 2010, that grew to 66%. At the same time, moderates shrunk from 40% to 31% of their coalition and liberals shrunk from 5% to 3%.

On the other side of the aisle, 47% of Democratic votes came from moderates, down from 54% in 2006. 40% came from liberals, up from 33%. And 13% came from conservatives, up from 12% in 2006.

Overall, Democrats won 55% of the moderate vote compared to 42% for Republicans, down from a 60%/38% split in 2006. Perhaps more significantly, as a share of the electorate, in 2010 moderate turnout dropped significantly while conservative turnout soared. In 2006, 32% of voters were conservative; that number jumped to 41%. Also in 2006, moderates were 47% of voters, dropping to 39% in 2010. Liberals stayed constant at 20%.

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See also the income breakout

[HughMoran]

1. Interesting info, thanks for posting it!

This seems to indicate that a large number of liberals call themselves "moderate" due to the negative connotation Republicans have attached to the word "liberal".

So if in 2010:

Conservatives = 40%

Moderates = 40%

Liberals = 20%

...and the liberal vote stays at a consistent 20%, the math says that we need to woo more moderates to win. That's not going to be a popular conclusion.

[denimgirly]

2. Curious..what is the "Liberal" negative connotation?

I always keep hearing that liberal is bad and how repubs changed its context in peoples minds...so was wondering what it means now to people that liberals now prefer to be called progressives?

[ProSense]

3. Liberal and progressive are not bad words, but

I'd like to hurl a few bad words at the 3 percent of self-described liberals who voted Republican.

[HughMoran]

7. Republicans have been bashing the word liberal for as long as I can remember

I'm pretty sure Reagan was one of the first to jump on the "anti-liberal" bandwagon.

A little searching shows that it seems to have become a solid pejorative at the time of Reagan.

1988
Aug 18, 1988 - At some stage in recent political history, the word "liberal" acquired a pejorative connotation, meaning, I suppose, radical or pinko, and certainly "Big Spender." But "conservative" retains all the old virtues, suggesting faith in God and country, and isn't equated automatically with ...
From Liberalism Isn't So Bad; So why should we fear a `liberal' as president? - Related web pages

(link from 1988 Washington Post won't paste in properly)
__________________________________________________________________

Hope this helps...

As far as today is concerned - I'm fond of taking back the "liberal" moniker as I've always objected to the idea that we need to adopt a new term in order to be more appealing to "moderates". I say fuck that - liberal is what I am. Besides, there's a whole 'nother group on the left that have attempted to kidnap the word "progressive" and define it somewhat differently than liberal (some go so far as to state that they DESPISE LIBERALS!) This leads to confusion and thus nobody can agree on what a progressive is. Since many "progressives" use the term "liberal" as a pejorative, it takes a certain amount of guts to call oneself a liberal these days.

[Xipe Totec]

4. Republican voter breakdown

66% fascists, 31% closet conservatives, 3% liars.

[FrenchieCat]

5. Or 100% assholes!

[Xipe Totec]

6. You're talking genus, I'm talking species.

:evilgrin:

[ProSense]

9. Well,

that goes without saying.

[OHdem10]

8. It is cool to say you are moderate and can be embarassing to

admit you are a Liberal. Democrats should keep this
in mind: Republicans in Congress are much more conservative
than their constituents.

I have known people who called themselves moderate but
when I asked them speific questions re issues they were
really Liberal.

This is why we should be very clear. If a person is a Conservative
Democrat, call them that. That word Moderate as I stated is
cool. There are Democrats(regular citizens0 who are liberal
or lean much more Liberal than anything Republican. Moderate
is an easy way to make yourself acceptable.

[Kaleva]

10. The center shifted right this election

Just enough to give the Repubs control of the House.

[DemocraticPilgrim]

11. We just didn't turn up, but I think the next 2 years will shake people out of it back the the voting

booth. At least those in the middle understood the price we might pay, and those who think the Prez got a schlacking it was more the people, that is all.