54% Say Bush is Politically Conservative 46% Say Kerry is Liberal

Rasmussen Reports ^ | March 13, 2004

[nickcarraway]

hmmm

[RightWhale]

Kerry is not Liberal. He is way left of Liberal.

[writer33]

"Twenty-seven percent (27%) of these swing voters identify themselves as conservative, 47% moderate, and 18% liberal."

How can a swing voter be conservative? Just a thought. Same thing goes for liberals. How can a swing voter be liberal? That doesn't make any sense.

I think what we're seeing here is that America is inherently conservative. I think the high number of moderate percentages are because people are still afraid to say what they believe. If given a choice, they'd align themselves with more conservative principles.

[Psycho_Bunny]

At the other end of the spectrum, just 27% of liberal voters see Senator Kerry as liberal. That figure is up slightly from 23% in the earlier surveys. Most liberal voters (56%) say Kerry is a moderate.

Here in Seattle, I haven't met one lefty who thinks Kerry's "liberal".

And one of the of the things lefties are best at is letting you know their political beliefs within 30 seconds of meeting them, so I think I have a pretty good understanding of the numbers.

[Paladin2]

He's actually a documented extremist. Given the way the media only use the word extremist to apply to the right, we need to promote its accurate use to help fully describe JF'nK.

[Amerigomag]

These poll results and many others are rooted in a common misconception. They assume that Kerry is Bush's opponent. He is not. Kerry is not even very popular among Democrat voters.

Bush's opposition's (moveon.org and others) election campaign is really based on Bush verses ABB (anyone but Bush). Understanding this anomoly makes most of the polling data predictable.

The campaign is Bush's to loose, not Kerry's to win.

[highlander_UW]

This just in...90% of people polled are idiots.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

He's actually a documented extremist. Given the way the media only use the word extremist to apply to the right, we need to promote its accurate use to help fully describe JF'nK.

I'd like to label Kerry as a reactionary liberal.

He thinks failed ideas of the past are best for the future.

Just call him a dope!

[SAJ]

Too low.

[RightWhale]

failed ideas of the past are best

Conservatives are often accused of holding philosphies a couple centuries past expiration date. Kerry is a postmodern who doesn't appear to have noticed that postmodernism has become a historical curiosity. That makes Kerry a neophyte Conservative.

[JohnBDay]

People think Kerry is a moderate becuase he was on the same stage as Dean, Kucinich and Sharpton. The liberal numbers will be in the mid to high fifties by the convention.

[I still care]

Good. At least they are starting to get the idea. Of course, it won't be truth-in-advertising until they realize he's not liberal, he's "far left".

[Rome2000]

Most liberal voters (56%) say Kerry is a moderate

Morons.

[GulliverSwift]

The media will do there best to prevent this from happening, though.

[x]

How can a swing voter be conservative? Just a thought. Same thing goes for liberals. How can a swing voter be liberal? That doesn't make any sense.

Think "Reagan Democrats." There are a lot of people who are conservative on social issues, but who often vote for Democrats on economic grounds. Many union members fit the profile. There's also a cultural element involved, as many African-Americans regard themselves as very conservative, but vote for the Democrat in most election. The same was long true of Jews, Catholics, Southerners, though the old New Deal ties have frayed over the years.

Liberal swing voters can be harder to find, but it may be a similar historical dynamic. In traditionally Republican states which have tilted Democratic in recent years, like Maine or Connecticut or Oregon, there are probably some people who'd define themselves as liberals who'd vote for Republicans.

The perception of Kerry as a moderate has something to do with his "free thinking phase of the early Nineties, when he questioned whether we could or should keep affirmative action forever. But Kerry never left the liberal reservation in terms of his voting record.

It als has a lot to do with liberals positioning of the candidate on the political spectrum to make him look more moderate than he is. Thinking of Kerry as a moderate allows liberals to see the Democrats as a more centrist organization than others portray it. But the perception cuts both ways: if Kerry is only a moderate, then what must fully fledged liberals believe?

[doug9732]

"How can a swing voter be conservative?"
Because Bush is not a real conservative. He spends like a drunken sailor (W will soon become the first President in 176 years to complete a full term without vetoing a single spending measure!), is lukewarm on the individual right of self-defense, favors ever-increasing government intrusion into education, and refuses to contol America's borders in favor of a low-wage economy awash with unlimited illegal immigrants.

[writer33]

"Think "Reagan Democrats." There are a lot of people who are conservative on social issues, but who often vote for Democrats on economic grounds. Many union members fit the profile. There's also a cultural element involved, as many African-Americans regard themselves as very conservative, but vote for the Democrat in most election. The same was long true of Jews, Catholics, Southerners, though the old New Deal ties have frayed over the years."

I think the problem with the poll is that these people are identifying themselves as "conservative" or "liberal" or "moderate." Problem with that is that any true conservative or liberal would never be a swing voter. I mean that a person holding those principles closely by either party would not swing their vote.

If a person swings, it's likely that they were never affiliated with one party to begin with. They were always neutral. And I really don't believe in neutrality. Moderates call themselves that because they think it makes them more enlightened. Beneath it all, they believe in something.

[Green Knight]

Not morons. Just that those people are SO FAR LEFT, that Kerry, in comparison, looks moderate from their point of view.

[writer33]

"Because Bush is not a real conservative."

This doesn't explain swing voters. It explains how a conservative is a conservative, but nothing else. It explains triangulation pretty well though.

I think he's made some mistakes, certainly, but now's not the time for picking him apart. I know that Kerry could never follow one conservative principle. So I'm behind President Bush. And yes, I have disagreements, but they pale in comparison to a Kerry Presidency.