People less ‘conservative’ than ‘American’ in values
By Bill Knight | 2nd July 2007
Even as President Bush in June vetoed Congress’ bill funding embryonic stem-cell research, a new study circulated showing that 61% of Americans support such research – just one of many positions that contradict the conventional wisdom that Americans are fundamentally conservative.
There’s little coverage of the report – compiled by the nonprofit Campaign for America’s Future from several reliable, nonpartisan surveys – because its conclusions don’t follow the media script, the GOP talking points dutifully repeated by Fox, Rush and their ilk, or journalists too lazy to check it out for themselves.
The assumption that most Americans are hostile to government and content with inequality, support unregulated markets and want foreign policy based on military power, and embrace stereotypical “traditional” social values is false, according to years of public-opinion data from respected sources ranging from Gallup Polls to the Pew Research Center. True, when asked to classify themselves, 32% of Americans say they’re conservative, 26% say they’re moderate, and 23% say they’re liberal. However, according to “The Progressive Majority: Why A Conservative America is a Myth,” many people who hold liberal issue positions call themselves moderates, or even conservatives.”
A majority of Americans hold progressive views in seven general areas – increasingly so in the last ten years:
Government - Americans support an active government that tackles problems, provides services, and aids the needy.
Economy - Americans support increasing the minimum wage and strong unions, and believe the wealthy and corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
Social issues - Americans support legal abortion and embryonic stem cell research, and opinions on equal rights for women and gay Americans have grown dramatically more progressive in recent years.
Security - Americans support a progressive approach to national security, emphasizing strong alliances and diplomacy over the indiscriminate use of military force. On domestic security issues, progressive approaches to crime and gun control have wide support.
Environment - By enormous margins, Americans favor strong environmental protections, a core progressive belief.
Energy - Americans support energy conservation and the development of alternative fuels.
Health care - Americans clearly favor universal coverage and are comfortable with government solutions to the health care problem.
Most people are forced to conclude they’re out of step with the majority if they listen to conservative media mouthpieces such as Fox’s Brit Hume, syndicated columnist Cal Thomas and author Ann Coulter, or tune in to Right-wing radio celebrities such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage (together making up almost a third of the broadcast day on Peoria’s WMBD-AM 1470).
But however folks classify their outlook (“liberal” is almost an epithet after 20-some years of abuse of the term by the Right), a solid majority has core beliefs that are as progressive as the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon – beliefs that in most ways are as American as baseball and apple pie.
Specifically, here are the numbers detailing those seven broad areas:
The National Election Studies (NES) found that 67% of us favor a strong government to deal with complex problems, and that Americans prefer more services even if it means more spending by a 2-to-1 margin (43% to 20%).
Pew found that 58% of us think corporations don’t fairly balance profits and the public interest, that 56% have a favorable opinion of labor unions (as opposed to 33% unfavorable), and that 84% favor an increase in the minimum wage. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that Americans believe the global economy harms the nation by a 2-to-1 margin (48% to 25%). Polls from Gallup and the Los Angeles Times reveal that, while 53% of us think our taxes are too high, 71% think corporations’ taxes are too low, and Americans prefer helping the economy by spending on schools, roads and bridges over tax cuts by almost a 2-to-1 margin (60% to 34%).
An Associated Pres/Ipsos poll found that gay marriage is the most important issue for just 3% and abortion ranked far back (14th) in a list of social issues. Americans are sophisticated in what they regard as moral issues, too, listing greed or economic justice twice as often as abortion. Concerning abortion, 62% of Americans oppose the Supreme Court overturning the Roe v. Wade ruling on women’s right to choose whether or not to have an abortion. Gallup found that a huge, 89% majority thinks gay Americans should have equal rights at work, and that support for gays serving in the military, adopting children or living in same-sex civil unions is up 8% to 10% in the last 10 years, to 60%, 46% and 37%, respectively.
As far as national and homeland security, the country is divided 49% to 47% on whether or not military strength is the best way to ensure peace – compared to 62% agreeing five years ago. More than 70% of us favor banning assault weapons and 81% favor requiring police permits to buy guns. Americans prefer attacking social problems to increasing law enforcement as a way to deal with crime by a 2-to-1 margin (65% to 31%), and we’re about evenly divided about the death penalty (48% supporting, 47% opposing – changed from 61% and 29% a decade ago).
Regarding the environment, 65% care a fair amount or great deal about climate change, 81% favor more government spending to develop wind and solar power, and 82% back stronger enforcement of environmental regulations.
Concerning health care, 69% believe it’s the government’s responsibility to ensure that Americans have health coverage.
Finally – concerning another current issue stalled on Capitol Hill at press time – 67% of Americans told Gallup that immigration is a “good thing for this country today,” but 77% think the best way to reduce undocumented immigrants from Mexico is to “penalize employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.”
The report concludes, “The facts are too clear to ignore. Whatever Americans choose to call themselves, on issue after issue, majorities of the public find themselves on the progressive side.”
(To read the full, 28-page report, go to: http://home.ourfuture.org/reports/20070612_the progressivemajority/)
Bill Knight is an award-winning journalist who teaches at Western Illinois University. Contact him at bill.knight@hotmail.com.