Third Way: Liberal Policies Continue To Be Highly Popular Among Americans
Marcia Straub
Liberalism, as a philosophy, continues to be one of the most well-known political philosophies in America. Due to this, it is also one of the most criticized philosophies. When asked to self-identify, only 25% of Americans self-identify as liberals, compared to nearly 70% that identify as independent or conservative. These statistics indicate liberalism is highly unpopular these days. However, that is not the full story. Despite these figures, liberal policies continue to rise in popularity. Americans have high approval ratings of government programs already established. These opinions regarding liberal policies help to explain how Americans vote and could help the Biden administration run an effective campaign in 2024.
Center left political philosophy in America focuses on the use of government in pursuit of prosperity, security, and the public good. According to a Princeton article written by Paul Starr, modern liberalism within an American political context is broad ranging and fills a lot of important policy issues.
“Liberals draw support from some elements of business and many middle-class professionals, but no party that favors progressive tax rates, regulation of business, and the struggle for equality by race, gender, and sexual orientation can escape intense interest-group and ideological opposition. Liberal coalitions are also so inherently diverse and prone to divisions that just maintaining unity is difficult. The liberal political challenge is also complicated by the dual character of public opinion in the United States. Conservatives enjoy an advantage at the symbolic level: more Americans self-identify as conservative than as liberal, a pattern that has been true even during periods of liberalism’s peak influence. But many self-identified conservatives favor liberal positions on major issues, and as a result, liberals have an interest in framing political choices in clear and concrete terms to win over the portion of the electorate who are symbolically conservative but operationally liberal a group Stimson (2004) calls conflicted conservatives.”
Liberalism’s Broad Appeal
Why do so few people identify as liberals? This quote explains not only the policy priorities of liberalism, but it shows that because liberalism covers a wide umbrella of issues, there is room for lots of divide within the Democratic party, as opposed to the Republican party which is far more ideological than issue focused. This supports the previous data explaining why so many Americans are comfortable self-defining as moderate or Republican and few as Democrat. This does not mean that 70% does not vote Democrat, rather, they choose not to identify with all the policy issues that Democrats align with. Further, independents, or moderates, do not necessarily take moderate positions, just ideologically inconsistent ones. In other words, independents could hold very liberal and very conservative views on different issues and since neither party can capture all their positions, they identify with neither. However, since the Democratic party is a “catch all” for so many issues, it has far more potential to increase support for many specific policy positions.
Center Left Philosophy Today
Center left philosophy in America currently focuses on increasing access to healthcare, combating climate change, decreasing inequality, regulating business, and supporting reproductive rights. The Biden administration embodies the current center left philosophy and policies. His administration has strengthened the Affordable Care Act by reducing premiums for 9 million Americans and increased coverage to cover an additional 4 million Americans. His administration also increased taxes on the wealthiest Americans. He increased the use of clean energy and positioned America to cut emissions in half by 2030. Biden also canceled student loan debt for nearly 20 million borrowers. Therefore, these achievements serve as a good metric to test American views on liberal policies.
Americans’ Policy Positions
How do Americans feel about the center left policies embodied by Biden, given the low number of self identified liberals? When it comes to public policy questions, America is far more center left than center right. 73% of the electorate espoused left of center views on the economy. 60% of Americans support tuition free public college, including 58% of independents and 47% of Republicans. 60% of Americans also favor a Medicare and Medicaid buy in option, while 82% support family and medical leave. Further, 73% of Americans favored raising taxes on the wealthy and 63% of Americans believe the minimum wage should be tied to inflation. On issues like climate change, 74% of Americans support a U.S. role in the global effort to combat it and 2/3 of Americans support prioritizing the development of renewable energy sources. As demonstrated in polling on issues, that 25% self-identification question is highly inaccurate. While Americans might not identify as liberals, most Americans favor center left policy positions over any other political philosophy. One explanation for these levels of support is that as societies get wealthier, people shift away from a worldview that emphasizes traditional authority and increasingly view all people as worthy of rights and respect. While Americans dislike the phrase “big government,” when polled, they prefer to keep social programs run by the government.
Biden’s administration’s priorities and accomplishments align closely with most Americans. His successes reflect the sentiment of America. Center left philosophy, as demonstrated through moderate Democrats in America, win over voters because of these policy issues. Moderate liberalism is the best poised to pull moderates and independents over because they continue to support programs liberals like. Donald Trump was able to win votes by claiming no cuts to social security, Medicaid, or Medicare. This stance taken by him was a sharp contrast to his colleagues but led to his victory because of America’s love of this program, even by Republicans. Americans continue to fear far left policies, despite their increase in mainstream politics. Most Americans do not favor far left positions on issues, fearing a shift away from capitalism, even if that is not the intent of these far-left politicians. Therefore, moderate Democrats continue to represent the policy preferences of most Americans. For 2024, Biden should focus on these policy issues that mean so much to Americans to secure victory and use his record as proof for support on liberal policy concerns. By demonstrating he alone does represent most American interests, he will be able to achieve a second administration.