The country is much more leftist than it was in 1977.
“The country is much more leftist than it was in 1977.”
Wrong.
Conservatives have maintained their leading position among U.S. ideological groups in the first half of 2010. Gallup finds 42% of Americans describing themselves as either very conservative or conservative. This is up slightly from the 40% seen for all of 2009 and contrasts with the 20% calling themselves liberal or very liberal.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/141032/2010-conservatives-outnumber-moderates-liberals.aspx
Conservatives led liberals 40-22 in 1977. So there has been no appreciable change. In fact the country is slightly more conservative than it was in 1977.