Report: America Now A Center-Left Country

By Michael Combier-Talk Radio News Service

Overall, Americans politically lean center-left, and a new generation of young people, 45 million 18 to 29 year old who are eligible to vote, desire more governmental presence in their daily life, according to a recently released report by Campaign for America’s Future and Media Matters for America. Entilted “America: A Center-Left Nation”, the report tracks the political ideology of large swaths of Americans since the election of President Barack Obama last November.

“The notion that this is a center-right country continues to be a staple of the media,” said Robert Borosage, co-Director of Campaign for America’s Future, at a press conference in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.

This notion from the mainstream media “cuts through the way issues are reporting on a regular basis, on a daily basis, whether you are talking about health care, whether you are talking about the economy, or any of the major social issues,” said Eric Burns, President of Media Matters for America and co-author of the report. He added that “the orientation of the media’s reporting, the framing of the issues are always ten degrees to the right of really from where the American people stand.”

“The media has the responsibility to understand where the American people are in terms of their views on these issues so that they can more accurately report what the real tensions points are... The vast majority of Americans support some sort of nationalized health care plan but that is not reflected in the reporting,” Burns said.

More progressive ideas and a stronger presence of the federal government are sought by a new generation of young Americans who are more racially diverse, progressive and politically active.

Heather Smith is the Executive Director of Rock the Vote, which registered 2.6 million people to vote last year. This generation “not only made a great entrance on election day in 2008 but will continue to play a major role in shaping politics and the direction of our country,” Smith said. This generation has grown up “with a fallen economy, outrageous college debt, two wars, hurricanes, the September 11 attacks” and they “understand the real need for a government and are more likely to save our government’s investment” in health care or education, she said.

Are youth voters political game-changers?

On Tuesday, young voters showed that their generation is "moving from revolutionary to solutionary," said Hip Hop Caucus President, Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr. at the Campus Progress event discussing youth voter turnout. Also in attendance was Kat Barr, Political Outreach Director for Rock the Vote; Amanda Carpenter, National Political Reporter for Townhall.com; and David Madland, Director of the American Worker Project for the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The panel discussed the major issues for youth voters such as the economy and the war in Iraq, as well as how to keep the youth civically engaged.

The panelists all agreed that this was a "fundamentally progressive election," and Madland said that this generation is ideologically more progressive than any generation before them. Yearwood compared the election to the Civil Rights Movement because he said that "it became a movement" itself. To keep youth involvement high and in order to "make government transparent," he said all American citizens must become civic teachers to the up and coming generations. The Campus Progress event concluded with the thought that Kat Barr began with, that regardless of future youth involvement, it must be said that in this election,"young people made the difference."