Posted on 9/11/2009, 4:41:26 PM by reaganaut1
"Progressive” is becoming more of a dirty word, but all political labels – except “being like Ronald Reagan” - are falling into disfavor with many U.S. voters, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
“Liberal” is still the worst and remains the only political description that is viewed more negatively than positively. Being like Reagan is still the most positive thing you can say about a candidate.
Just 15% of voters say they view the description of a candidate as politically liberal as positive, down four points from last November. Forty-one percent (41%) see it as a negative description, up five points form the earlier survey, while 42% say it’s somewhere in between.
Aware of their low ideological ratings, political liberals have shifted in recent times to calling themselves progressives, but that name, too, has begun to lose its luster. Thirty-two percent (32%) now consider it a positive to describe a candidate as politically progressive, but that’s down from 40% just after the last election. Twenty-seven percent (27%) see it as negative label, up from 16%, and 36% put it somewhere in between the two.
...
But “conservative” also has lost ground. In November, 37% said they had a positive opinion of a candidate described as politically conservative, but only 32% feel that way now. Twenty-nine percent (29%) see conservative as a negative description, up seven points from the earlier survey. Thirty-seven percent (37%) think it’s somewhere in between.
Even “moderate” is a bit more in disfavor these days. Thirty-five percent (35%) say moderate is a positive political description, down from 40%. Only 12% say it’s a negative, but that’s up four points. Largely unchanged are the 51% who say it’s somewhere in between.
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
Source is Rasmussen, not NYT, sorry. I sent a “report abuse” message too.
This is why they fear Sarah Palin. She’s about the only one out there who even comes close.
I’m a Reagan Conservative who votes Republican. I wonder how I’d rate?
I see the voters developing a “throw the bums out” mentality.
I think it's a good sign that people are suspect of all political labels.
Poisonous media propaganda plus the lefts total control of schools and all other levels of government bureaucracy
The left has been working this long term “tell the big lie enough” strategy and it’s paying off. Bad news is that it took them decades to get there but would take even longer to reverse. Most of the Americans whose minds have been poisoned by these lies will never see the light in there lifetimes. They are doomed to a life of deception.
Aware of their low ideological ratings, political liberals have shifted in recent times to calling themselves progressives, but that name, too, has begun to lose its luster.
A rose by any other name....
The reason the word “progressive” has lost its luster has nothing to do with the word. It’s losing it’s luster because people don’t like what the word represents.
A rose by any other name...
I wrote and posted this on another thread this morning. Thought it might be apropos here as well
Here are Reagan’s true principles, from his Farewell Address:
1. Substance over style
And in all of that time I won a nickname, “The Great Communicator.” But I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference: It was the content. I wasn’t a great communicator, but I communicated great things,
2. America is based on age old principles born of common sense
and they didn’t spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation - from our experience, our wisdom, and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries. They called it the Reagan revolution. Well, I’ll accept that, but for me it always seemed more like the great rediscovery, a rediscover of our values and our common sense.
3. The PEOPLE must lead, and the politicians will follow:
I’ve had my share of victories in the Congress, but what few people noticed is that I never won anything you didn’t win for me. They never saw my troops, they never saw Reagan’s regiments, the American people. You won every battle with every call you made and letter you wrote demanding action. Well, action is still needed. If we’re to finish the job...
Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: “We the people.” “We the people” tell the government what to do, it doesn’t tell us. “We the people” are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world’s constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which “We the people” tell the government what it is allowed to do. “We the people” are fee. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I’ve tried to do these past eight years.
4. Hold fast to first principles
The lesson of all this was, of course, that because we’re a great nation, our challenges seem complex. It will always be this way. But as long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves, the future will always be ours.
5. As government expands, liberty contracts
But back in the 1960s, when I began, it seemed to me that we’d begun reversing the order of things - that through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the government was taking more of our money, more of our options, and more of our freedom. I went into politics in part to put up my hand and say, “Stop.” I was a citizen politician, and it seemed the right thing for a citizen to do.
6. Americans must take pride in their country, and teach it to younger generations
An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over thirty-five or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn’t get these things from your family, you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea of the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed, you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the midsixties.
But now, we’re about to enter the nineties, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren’t sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven’t reinstitutionalized it. We’ve got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom - freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rate. It’s fragile; it needs production [protection].
So, we’ve got to teach history based not on what’s in fashion but what’s important: Why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those thirty seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, four years ago on the fortieth anniversary of D day, I read a letter from a young woman writing of her late father, who’d fought on Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, “we will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did.” Well, let’s help her keep her word. If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are. I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let’s start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual. And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven’t been teaching you what it means to be an American, let ‘em know and nail ‘em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.
7. Communism sucks
Nothing is less free than pure communism, and yet we have, the past few years, forged a satisfying new closeness with the Soviet Union. I’ve been asked if this isn’t a gamble, and my answer is no because we’re basing our actions not on words but deeds.
Best news EVER
Cancer is "Progressive" too!
Thanks for reposting this. Right on the mark.
Progressives are at plus 5 (32-27)
Conservatives are at plus 3 (32-29)
Moderates are at plus 23 (35-12)
The left has self-identified as liberal and progressive. The shift is based on which term stinks the most at any given moment.
As far as conservative is concerned, that is what I am. I’ve heard people say that perhaps we shouldn’t refer to ourselves that way. Personally I think that is stupid. What the other side calls you does not change who you are.
The left has too much control over the language as it is. They should never be permitted to force conservatives not to describe themselves as what they are. Conservative.
To me liberal, progressive and slimeball are synonymous in today’s world. Of course a bunch of brainwashed citizens are convinced that progressive indicates a forward thinking, intelligent and compassionate person.
Perhaps it used to. That is what I thought it was when I was a liberal. Then I figured progressive was just a fancy word for liberal. It is different now.
I spit on all of them. Even those who have been brainwashed and duped. They voted for this Marxist creep Barack Obama, and helped put him in the Oval Office.
On the other hand so did the Republicans. George W. bush and the Party leadership while he was in office sold out the country and paved the way for Obama. John McCain sealed the deal with his non-campaign.
I just thought of something. The new dirtiest word in America should be “politician.”
“Nitwits” yes. They bought the lies. They fell for the Race Card played at every opportunity. He won because of a racially charged campaign. The Campaign target of White Guilt that reeled in the Nitwits.
Don’t discount the idiot the Repubs let the Dems choose to run against Obama, nor the blatant Democrat, all out, anything goes to win fraud as reasons for Obama’s win either.
I’ll never understand the people of this Nation if the criminal Democrats continue to get away with it.
Who would you have wanted to run against Obama if not McCain ? Palin was not running and Reagan is dead, so you can't pick those two.
“Progressive” is interchangeable with “Liberal” so you have to join the two figures. Liberals changed the label because the other was ineffective.
Conservative dropping in popularity is no surprise when you have the upper elitist class distorting the term to suit their turn to liberalism and politicians claiming to be conservative than acting anything but.
Funny how being like Reagan is still okay. Didn’t the elites and liberals say we had to get over him? I take Reagan to mean claiming to be a conservative and actually being one in thought, speech and action.
Reagan is dead and if he were a politician today, there is a fair chance they would turn on him too.
Someday, it’ll be “being like Ronald Reagan or Sarah Palin.” :o)
Hunter was my choice to run, and don’t give me that crap about “WHO?” that so many da’s have spewed. I realize the man hadn’t a chance in “H” against the Democrat machine, the fraud etc., but as I noted prior to the Primaries we would have been running somebody more representative of Conservative ideology, and that would be a bonus for our side.
Yeah, I said that way back then. I was right too. Perhaps a bit defeatist, but right.
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