More signs that the American people are shifting to the left, and that the recent election results favoring Republicans are just a blip in the long run.
A new poll released last week shows that, while most Americans favor keeping the Bush tax cuts in place, a sizable number (44 percent) favor repealing them outright, or at the very least repealing the tax subsides for the top one percent of income earners -- those making over $250,000 per year.
On the issue of health reform, Americans are even more liberal: less than four in ten Americans want to repeal the bill that Obama and Democrats passed, while 58 percent of Americans want the reforms to either stay in place or go even further in changing the health industry.
Opposition to the health reform law is only strong among Republicans -- 61 percent of those in the GOP want its repeal. But both independents and self-identified Democrats want the reforms to stay in place or to do more to change health care in the United States, with two-thirds of independents voicing this opinion and 85 percent of Democrats concurring.
On gay and lesbian rights, the country is moving towards liberalism as well. More than three-in-four Americans favor repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the outdated military policy that forbids gays and lesbians from serving openly.
As I've stated in other posts before this (1, 2), the country is trending towards liberalism despite the resurgence of the Republican Party in the midterm elections and the media's concentration of the Tea Party's antics. The turnout for this election year was largely conservative voters who were upset with Obama and Democrats in general, while those who normally support progressive policies were uninspired this time around to vote (only half of the state of Wisconsin, for example, voted in 2010, compared to nearly 70 percent who did in 2008).
Expect a resurgence of the Democrats come 2012, with Obama winning reelection as well. Though it will be likely a long, hard-fought election season, American demographics suggest that Obama won't lose, at least to those who have suggested they will run against him.
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