Esquire/NBC: The New American Center

[Mistress Stowastiq]

I took the quiz and got "Bleeding Heart Liberal"...biiiig surpise there. :D But jokes aside, I was actually surprised because every time I take a political survey, it is always not even remotely accurate to my political beliefs. It was refreshing to see accuracy. Still, what confuses me is I agree wholeheartedly with 100% of the views that Bernie Sanders has yet he is an Independent.

I am very curious to know what the majority of this forum would be on the chart.

As for the Center in the survey results, I think it represents people who are not getting their voices heard because of their lack of interest in politics. I am not sure how this is good for politicians who want to gain their attention and votes unless they can be motivated to express their concerns and vote so that they are counted during elections.

The survey seems to me like they are saying the Center is this silent undecided majority that "goes with the flow." Almost like the much sought Independents that both sides fight over except the Independents vote?

The New American Center, Why Our Nation Isn't As Divided As We Think.
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news...-we-think?lite

By Tony Dokoupil, Senior Staff Writer, NBC News

It’s the most conventional wisdom in Washington, the unchallenged idea that America is a divided nation, a country ripped into red and blue factions in perpetual conflict. The government shutdown this fall would seem like only the latest evidence of this political civil war. But is the idea of two Americas even true? Not according to a new Esquire-NBC News survey.

At the center of national sentiment there’s no longer a chasm but a common ground where a diverse and growing majority - 51 percent - is bound by a surprising set of shared ideas.

“Just because Washington is polarized doesn’t mean America is,” says Robert Blizzard, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies, the lead pollster for Mitt Romney in 2012. His firm co-created the survey with the Benenson Strategy Group, pollsters for President Obama, and the result is a nation in eight distinct segments: two on the far right ("The Righteous Right" and "The Talk Radio Heads"), two on the far left ("The Bleeding Hearts" and "The Gospel Left"), and four in the middle that represent nothing less than a new American center ("Minivan Moderates," "The MBA Middle," "The Pick-up Populists, and "The #WhateverMan.")

The people of the center are patriotic and proud, with a strong majority (66 percent) saying that America is still the greatest country in the world, and most (54 percent) calling it a model that other countries should emulate. But the center is also very nervous about the future, overwhelmingly saying that America can no longer afford to spend money on foreign aid (81 percent) when we need to build up our own country.

Take an interactive quiz to find out where you stand.



Pluralities believe that the political system is broken (49 percent), and the economy is bad (50 percent) and likely to stay that way a while (41 percent). Majorities fear another 9/11 or Boston-style bombing is likely (70 percent), and that their children’s lives will be more difficult than their own (62 percent), which are either stuck in place or getting worse (84 percent) — while the rich keep getting richer at the expense of everyone else (70 percent).

The new American center has a socially progressive streak, supporting gay marriage (64 percent), the right to an abortion for any reason within the first trimester (63 percent), and legalized marijuana (52 percent). Women, workers and the marginal would also benefit if the center had its way, supporting paid sick leave (62 percent); paid maternity leave (70 percent); tax-subsidized childcare to help women return to work (57 percent); and a federal minimum wage hike to no less than $10 per hour (67 percent).

But the center leans rightward on the environment, capital punishment, and diversity programs. Majorities support offshore drilling (81 percent) and the death penalty (90 percent), and the end of affirmative action in hiring and education (57 percent). Most people in the center believe respect for minority rights has gone overboard, in general, harming the majority in the process (63 percent). And just one in four support immigration reforms that would provide a path to citizenship for those who came here illegally.

Explore Esquire magazine's coverage of the exclusive survey.
Such data provide the richest and most useful portrait available of the modern political mind, complete with hidden affinities primed to sway elections in 2014, 2016 and beyond. “All you hear in Washington is that there’s nothing in the middle of the aisle,” said Daniel Franklin, a principal at the Benenson Strategy Group and Obama’s pollster during the 2012 campaigns. “But it turns out that’s not true. We have a massive American center, and it’s probably been there for years, just waiting to be found.”

But Washington beware: The people of the new American center aren’t united by easy labels. Some are Republicans (28 percent). Others are Democrats (36 percent). Still others are Independents (36 percent). The people of the center self-describe as liberals (20 percent), conservatives (25 percent), moderates (55 percent) — and 15 percent support the Tea Party.

[/SPOILER]

[Acevalefor]

Hah....I am far from a liberal but that is what the survey came up with. Also, the questions relate things that are not mutually inclusive. "Do you support higher government spending to make college more affordable for students?" Should be "Do you think colleges and the federal government are making massive amounts of money off of students?"

There are other problems like the religious questions. Apparently if you are christian you are conservative but if you don't believe in God you are a liberal...

I have never seen a survey that asks the correct questions or one that gets my political views correct.

[Waraji]

It's because its not a real survey. Shit, probably it's some dude using an abacus to count up your score, and a cheat sheet at the end telling him what your designation is at the end. Really urked me that Agnostic/Atheists were not represented under the religion category, as those could arguably be considered religions by the basic definition of religion. Some of the questions were obviously skewed left and right to garner a specific response per person.

Bleeding Heart Liberal, w/e the fuck that means anymore.

[archibaldcrane]

I'm a "bleeding heart", despite keeping most of my answers towards the center.

[archibaldcrane]

Really urked me that Agnostic/Atheists were not represented under the religion category

You must've missed the "none" category.

[Andalusian girls]

MBA Middle, not bad

[Callisto]

I too am also labeled a Bleeding Heart...not really sure what to make of that, or whether or not I agree yet. Though I guess it makes sense since anything that used to be considered moderate is now far-left.

[Correction]

Though I guess it makes sense since anything that used to be considered moderate is now far-left.

This is definitely how the test is calibrated. The people who would have otherwise been called centrists during the Carter years are now bleeding heart communists.

[Mistress Stowastiq]

It's because its not a real survey. Shit, probably it's some dude using an abacus to count up your score, and a cheat sheet at the end telling him what your designation is at the end. Really urked me that Agnostic/Atheists were not represented under the religion category, as those could arguably be considered religions by the basic definition of religion. Some of the questions were obviously skewed left and right to garner a specific response per person.

Bleeding Heart Liberal, w/e the fuck that means anymore.

"Bleeding heart liberal" reminds me of Archie Bunker talking about "Meathead." It is an old school term I have not heard in a while.

I had to choose "other" for religion because there was no slot for me. Also they used the "one drop rule" in that I can't be anything other than black if I am part black. I have issues determining what a good survey is vs bad...because maths. I'd love to see what Nate Silver thinks of the results of the survey.

[Correction]

HAHA oh god this quiz is fucked. I roleplayed Michelle Bachman and still only ended up center-of-right.

[GoggleHead]

New American Center sounds like codespeak for some diabolical cult.

[Drex]

New American Center sounds like codespeak for some diabolical cult.

it's basically an ideology for people who want to play for a team, but who consider themselves way too intellectual to be one of those right-wing/left-wing loonies on the tv. conveniently, that's the kind of person esquire (a magazine) targets, which is why their coverage leads with the bullet point "THE CENTER IS FILLED WITH PEOPLE WHO DO NOT CONSIDER THEMSELVES THE CENTER" while presenting graphs showing that the people consider themselves the center. they're playing for the al jazeera market.

[BaneTheBrawler]

[RKenshin]

Said that I'm a 'bleeding heart' when my answers were mostly fiscally conservative & socially liberal... which should put me at least somewhat close to the center, but yeah, seems that the second you embrace anything from the left this survey just makes you out as a liberal.

[Roranora]

MBA Middle, hmph. "defined by a strong live-and-let-live mentality"

I was hoping for Minivan Moderates cause it's the best alliteration (*'-');

[wipers]

Poll was done by NBC/ Esquire and you are shocked it has people listed as liberal...

[ringthree]

Poll was done by NBC/ Esquire and you are shocked it has people listed as liberal...

Actually, that doesn't make sense at all.

If it was liberal-biased then it would make liberal positions appear more moderate.

[ronin sparthos]

So the self-proclaimed atheist is apart of the Gospel Left who believes that morals are guided by religious faith.

Wat.

[RKenshin]

What ringthree said.

A liberal bias, if anything, would imply they avoid painting people as 'extremist/far left'... and instead move the center left as opposed to moving it further right. Just like a conservative-biased poll wouldn't want to tell moderates they're 'tea party maniacs.'

[Waraji]

Science Says NBC's Hope for the 'American Center' Is Wrong

In the darkness of shutdown, brinksmanship, and default, NBC News and Esquire think they've found the last great hope for American politics—The Center.

The independent voter is a myth, at least as far as the science is concerned.
Everything we know about politics is wrong and America isn't hopelessly divided is the gushingly optimistic conclusion of their widely publicized (and criticized) poll released Tuesday. "Emanating strongly from this rich and complex set of data from which the most complete and useful portrait of the new American Center has emerged comes this theme, expressed in a dozen different ways: a demand for the classic American notion of fairness," according to Esquire.

The survey draws a circle around four groups of Americans, out of eight, it has determined to be in the middle (they are the vaguely titled "minivan moderates," "MBA middle," "Pick-up Populists," and the "Whatever Man"). When joining these groups together, the poll finds majorities or near majorities of Americans agree on fuzzy concepts such as "the political system is broken" and "the economy is bad," as well as on more specific issues, such as supporting gay marriage and legalizing pot.

But under scrutiny, the center doesn't hold. These four center groups don't agree uniformly. What does it mean when only a plurality within four of NBC/Esquire's eight political groups agree on something? For instance, there is a 16-point spread between center groups on the role of government in individual lives—perhaps the most fundamental question possible.

But nitpicking at the methodology of the poll and its premise misses a bigger point: Of course there is a center—ideas a simple majority will agree to—but that doesn't mean America isn't firmly sorted into political camps.

And here's why: The independent voter is a myth, at least as far as the science is concerned.

"The folks who we see as independent, we think of them as closet partisans who act in almost indistinguishable ways to those who identify as partisans," Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth, told me a few weeks ago.

Recent research in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin illustrates this idea. In the study, the researchers employed what's called an "Implicit Association Test," which manipulates respondents to indicating what they really believe, or are otherwise unwilling to admit due to social pressures. For example, a smoker might not admit how many packs he smokes a day because smoking a lot isn't socially desirable. You have to probe their brain a bit deeper.

How this works is kind of complicated, but basically implicit association tests whether you have a basic negative or positive attitude toward a statement. For instance, a phrase like "Full Medicaid Coverage" will be presented with another concept like "good" or "agony." If "medicaid" and "good" are an association in your mind, you'll respond to the prompt slightly faster, because that association is easier for your mind to process. Crazy stuff.

Those who were implicitly Democrat tended to side with Democratic issues. Same goes for the implicit Republicans. "In their voting patterns, independent leaners are almost indistinguishable from their respective partisan blocs, even though they decline to identify as party members," the authors write.

So most of us, whether we admit it or not, have a political preference. And here's another reason why the NBC/Esquire premise is flawed: What matters most, in terms of predicting political behavior, is how people view themselves—and not what they actually believe on individual issues.

For instance, researchers at the University of North Carolina found that college-age participants overstate their conservativeness. That is, when asked about their political orientation they indicate one thing, but then on specific policy questions, they move to the left. "Self-reported political orientation was significantly more conservative than political orientation scores assigned to subjects using a more objective process," the paper concludes. The research suggests there is stronger in-group pressure for conservatives to stick with the conservative label, even when their beliefs would lead them elsewhere.

So, yes, these respondents are in the center (leaning toward the middle while maintaining a foot on a conservative base). And yes, that does give credence to the idea that Americans aren't so divided. But here's the crucial part: That doesn't mean they'll change their political behavior. "Biased self-perception," the authors write, "predicted voting behavior in the 2012 presidential election even after controlling for objective political-orientation scores." So it doesn't really matter what they believe, the authors are concluding. Sorting people by shared belief is a failed exercise.

There are some voters who are truly in the middle, Nyhan says, but they are usually the least engaged in the political system, and are usually the least knowledgeable about it. "So the knowledgeable folks, the ones who follow politics the most closely, end up acquiring a set of beliefs and come to support one side or the other."