3 Charts Suggests Liberals Are the Ones Who Changed

A new analysis from Financial Times data reporter John Burn-Murdoch examines an often-debated question: did liberals leave the center or did the center leave them? (Financial Times)

Exhibit A: Survey data shows Democratic Party voters’ cultural positions have become more progressive, moving away from the views of the median voter.

• Democratic support for affirmative action increased from 45% in 1996 to 60% in 2020, while median voter support for the policy has hovered around 20%.

• Dems’ net support for increasing immigration rose from -10% in 1996 to +40% in 2020 (a 50% shift!), while Republican opposition to immigration has shifted far less dramatically.

Exhibit B: While progressives — whose views tend to be much further left of the public — make up a minority of Democrats and the broader electorate, they have outsized influence on the party’s politics and policy.

• GOP political elites’ views, while not totally in line with the public, are closer to those of everyday Americans.

Exhibit C: An analysis of survey data published earlier this month by left-leaning journalist Kevin Drum showed progressives are out of step with the rest of the country on nearly every major cultural issue.

The meme: A popular cartoon by former liberal Colin Wright depicts the experience of those who feel the Democratic Party’s leftward shift left them behind, despite their own beliefs staying unchanged.

Context: In the wake of Donald Trump’s decisive 2024 presidential win, many Democrats have wondered how much progressivism’s grip on the party had to do with Kamala Harris’ loss.

Wright, writing in the Wall Street Journal in 2022: