The Myth of Conservative America

by Mike Hall, Jul 8, 2007

The 2006 election put progressives such as Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown in office who support raising the minimum wage and changing course in Iraq.

Ever since Newt Gingrich & Co. came on the scene in 1994, we’ve heard the following drumbeat over and over: America is not just swinging to the right, it’s rushing to the right. American voters are more deeply conservative in their views than ever before. It’s time to kiss progressive politics goodbye when it comes to economic and social issues.

Just because something is loudly repeated over and over, doesn’t mean it’s right—or should we say correct?

But a new report by Media Matters for America and the Campaign for America Future—The Progressive Majority: Why Conservative America is a Myth, shows that most of us in the United States are far more tolerant, open and progressive in our views than we are characterized as by pundits and commentators.

And those pundits and commentators declaring the nation’s rightward spin are not just the Rush Limbaughs or the talking heads on Fox News. The report finds the nation’s mainstream media is repeating the same mantra.

It should come as no surprise that conservative media figures repeat the myth that most Americans share their views. Even when Democrats win, conservatives claim that their ideology is still dominant.

But it was not just conservatives; in fact, they were simply repeating what they had heard mainstream journalists say for some time. “This is basically not a liberal country,” said John Harris, then of The Washington Post and now of The Politico, in May 2005. “It’s a conservative country. Previewing the Democrats’ prospects for victory three weeks before the 2006 election, CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley asserted that Democrats have been “on the losing side of the values debate, the defense debate and, oh yes, the guns debate. (Crowley presented no evidence that Democrats had been “on the losing side” of any of these debates.)

Starting with what became post-election conventional wisdom that Democrats won such a sweeping victory and control of Congress last November because their candidates had moved to the right to appeal to voters, the report begins to dismantle the America-is-firmly-conservative myth.

In truth, however, the Democratic class of 2006 was remarkably progressive. According to a survey conducted by Media Matters, all 30 newly elected House Democrats who took Republican seats advocated raising the minimum wage, supported changing course in Iraq, and opposed any effort to privatize Social Security. All but two supported embryonic stem cell research and only five described themselves as “pro-life” on the issue of abortion. Thirty-seven House and Senate candidates who promoted “fair trade” rather than “free trade” won; none of them lost.

The journalists straining to interpret 2006 as a validation of conservatism were following a pattern they had established long before: Democratic victories are understood as the product of the Democrats moving to the right, while Republican victories are the product of a conservative electorate.

(For a different view from November, click here.)

For example, in the 1994 midterm elections after Gingrich and company scored big, The New York Times declared (and this was not an editorial) “the country has unmistakably moved to the right.” Ten years later on President Bush’s re-election, the paper proclaimed it was “the clearest confirmation yet” of the nation’s rightward swing.

Just how conservative are Americans? The report took independent, nonpartisan polling data—gathered over the course of 20 years by sources such as American National Election Studies, the General Social Survey and Gallup Polls to see just how accurate these grand proclamations of continental drift to the right are. Not very. Here are some of the key findings:

• The role of government—69 percent of Americans believe the government “should care for those who can’t care for themselves;” twice as many people (43 percent vs. 20 percent) want “government to provide many more services even if it means an increase in spending” as wanted government to provide fewer services “in order to reduce spending.”
• The economy—77 percent of Americans think Congress should increase the minimum wage; 66 percent believe “upper-income people” pay too little in taxes; 53 percent feel the Bush tax cuts have failed because they have increased the deficit and caused cuts in government programs.
• Unions—59 percent of Americans have a favorable view unions—more than twice as many (29 percent) who hold unfavorable views and more people want unions to have greater influence in the country as opposed to less (38 percent to 30 percent)
• Trade—48 of percent Americans says “free trade” has cost U.S. jobs while just 12 percent believe such trade policies have created U.S. jobs.

• Health care—69 percent of Americans think it is the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans have access to health coverage; 76 percent find access to health care more important than maintaining the Bush tax cuts; three in five would be willing to have their own taxes increased to achieve universal coverage.

• Security—4 percent of Americans say we are spending too much on our military; 60 percent feel the federal government should do more about restricting the kinds of guns that people can purchase.

• The environment—75 percent of Americans would be wiling to pay more for electricity if it were generated by renewable sources to help reduce global warming; 79 percent want higher emissions standards for automobiles.

• Social issues—61 percent of Americans support embryonic stem cell research; 62 percent want to protect Roe v. Wade; only 3 percent of Americans rank gay marriage as the “most important” social issue.

The 31-page report (click here to download a PDF version) makes fascinating reading and gives folks some good ammunition the next time some talking head or political commentators looks out of your TV or writes in your newspaper that progressive movement is doomed because we’re a deeply conservative nation.

It’s a myth.