The culture war ain’t over yet
by digby
Well, I suppose it’s how you define “culture war.” I wrote a piece for salon this morning about the news from Gallup that the country has become much more liberal on social issues, to the point where the conservative advantage has shrunk to only four points. (This does not include women’s rights, of course — that needle hasn’t moved much in decades.)
However, it’s worthwhile to take a closer look at how this trend may play itself out politically. One would expect that Democrats, being the allegedly liberal party, will reap the benefits of this greater tolerance on social issues. And the nascent force in the GOP, the libertarians, might also expect to gain some political salience within the party if certain professional pols decide there is some electoral advantage to adopting a less hardcore approach. (The Christian right, which makes up a much larger percentage of Republican voters, may have something to say about that.)
In fact, this trend toward “liberalism” should inexorably lead toward more liberal politics. But again, one has to wonder how the word is defined. If it’s defined strictly as a movement for social progress, then things are looking up for liberals. But if you define it more broadly in terms of economic justice then it may not be quite so clear. Take a look at that first graph again and you’ll see that the other line is economic issues, which also shows a shrinkage from the high of a 34-point advantage in 2010 down to a “mere” 21-point advantage today, so I wouldn’t start kissing random nurses in Times Square just yet …
I go on to discuss what should be an obvious fact, but isn’t: that liberals’ advantage on these social issues is just as likely to be used to obscure the Democrats’ centrist and conservative economic policies — much of it driven by the Big Money that now dominates politics. Read on …
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