For the first time, self-described “liberals” outnumber “moderates” and “conservatives” within the Democratic Party, according to a Pew Research Center survey. But there is a huge split between the races.
Liberals now make up 42 percent of the Democratic Party. Moderates are 38 percent and conservatives are 17 percent.
It is the culmination a long trend where moderates held sway. Pew’s survey showed that since 2000, liberals among Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters have been on the move and just beat moderates for the majority post. In 2000, just 27 percent of Democrats self-identified as liberals.
The shift comes as progressives and socialists are expanding their influence in the Democratic presidential contests and as Republicans push a theme that the party has become “Socialist” and even “Communist.”
The trend is happening mostly among younger voters, but not Hispanics or African Americans, said Pew.
In fact, there is a huge split between blacks and whites, with just 27 percent of blacks calling themselves liberal, a slight drop from earlier surveys.
“Today, white Democrats are far more likely to describe their political views as liberal (50%) rather than as moderate (36%) or conservative (12%). In 2000, moderates constituted the largest share of white Democratic voters (46%), while just 28% described their views as liberal and 21% as conservative.
“By contrast, more black and Hispanic Democratic voters characterized their views as moderate than liberal in 2015, and the self-described political views of both groups have remained stable in recent years. Last year, 42% of black Democrats called themselves moderates, 29% said they were conservatives and 27% called themselves liberals. Among Hispanic Democrats, 39% described their political views as moderate, 35% as liberal and 24% as conservative.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
