Cranky Liberals
If you haven;t noticed, I added two to my blogroll recently: The Cranky Liberal and Courting Destiny. Aside from The Moderate Liberal, I haven't linked to left leaning sites. I have been visiting Cranky's for a while, and found the discussion engaging, often respectful, and sometimes thought provoking. Courting Destiny is run by a liberal who generally stays away from politics, and her writing is a departure from the usual opinion stuff that dominates my net time. I like Pia's writing, the story content, and honesty.
However, while Cranky has the TM on the name, he doesn't own the status of being a cranky liberal. In fact, liberal and cranky go together more often than not! According to a Pew Research Center poll, Democrats are more likely to "be pessimistic about the US, think the system is stacked against them, think working hard is for suckers, think that only boobs fly the American flag, and think religion is a waste of time." (quote stolen from Jonah Goldberg's recent mini-column in NRODT)
Think I'm full of it? Read the report and check out the details. A few blips:
Would you say that people can get ahead with hard work?
Poor Republicans - 76 % Yes, Poor Democrats, 14% Yes.
Weekly Church attendance? All groups at 40% or above, except "Bystanders" (non-voters) and "Liberals" (rich Democrats).
% of party that makes above $75,000 a year? Republicans - 41%. Democrats - 41%. Suprised? Don't be. By the way, the nubmer that makes up the Dems 41% is much bigger than the Republican 41%.
Display the flag? Only groups under 50% "Yes" - Bystanders and Liberals (Republican groups all above 75%)
Cranky Liberals? You bet.
However, while Cranky has the TM on the name, he doesn't own the status of being a cranky liberal. In fact, liberal and cranky go together more often than not! According to a Pew Research Center poll, Democrats are more likely to "be pessimistic about the US, think the system is stacked against them, think working hard is for suckers, think that only boobs fly the American flag, and think religion is a waste of time." (quote stolen from Jonah Goldberg's recent mini-column in NRODT)
Think I'm full of it? Read the report and check out the details. A few blips:
Would you say that people can get ahead with hard work?
Poor Republicans - 76 % Yes, Poor Democrats, 14% Yes.
Weekly Church attendance? All groups at 40% or above, except "Bystanders" (non-voters) and "Liberals" (rich Democrats).
% of party that makes above $75,000 a year? Republicans - 41%. Democrats - 41%. Suprised? Don't be. By the way, the nubmer that makes up the Dems 41% is much bigger than the Republican 41%.
Display the flag? Only groups under 50% "Yes" - Bystanders and Liberals (Republican groups all above 75%)
Cranky Liberals? You bet.
posted by Hammertime at
6/03/2005 03:56:00 PM
3 Comments:
Interesting survey. If I have time (I won't, but I can pretend) I'll go over it more.
I should point out that Pew defines the word liberal to be one in the anti-war crowd. The words liberal and conservative often feel meaningless, but in this case it really is just the word they used to describe a bunch of people that have corresponding views, centered around foreign policy.
The Iraq War really messes up this kind of statistic. There are many of us that favor the war Afghanistan but not Iraq. We don't test well. Attacking a foreign country without provocation, just because they might do something bad someday, tends to mess up everyone's opinion. Those who don't like this appear soft and anti-war. Those who feel they must support this action due to loyalty to their president and nation are forced into approving in an extremism they never would have approved of several years ago.
By
Xactiphyn, at 6/06/2005 11:57:00 AM
% of party that makes above $75,000 a year? Republicans - 41%. Democrats - 41%. Suprised? Don't be. By the way, the nubmer that makes up the Dems 41% is much bigger than the Republican 41%.
I don't see that. I see where 41% of "Enterprisers" and "Liberals" make that much, but see nothing broken down by party.
And back to my definition of the word "liberal" I note that on page 4 of the pdf only 64% of those in the Liberal category are "ideologically liberal", I assume that is means self identified as liberal. That was the largest of all the groups, though, which probably is why they got that name.
(Ok, I really need to get back to work.... Not that it matters. (that was a joke, get it?))
By
Xactiphyn, at 6/06/2005 01:31:00 PM
Mark,
Good catch! That's why Ilike our blogging relationship - you are one of the few who read the fine print.
I think I should have probably put that "the groups with the largest percentage of persons earning over 75k are..."
Hah! I just got your joke, the third time I read your comment. Thankfully, "quick on the uptake" was not a poll category...
By
Hammertime, at 6/10/2005 11:58:00 PM
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