what section of the democratic electorate do you think

[elana i am]

Poll question: what section of the democratic electorate do you think

has the most political influence/advantage of sheer numbers? one thing i've noticed in all the arguing going on around here is a disparity of opinion between people who think the liberals and progressives have hefty influence in the dem party and those like myself who think we are decidedly the minority and lack a hefty influence.

who do you think has the largest slice of the influence pie on the left side of the spectrum?

i'll post my guesstimate in pie chart form in a reply.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. It varies from state to state,

and since these are basically state elections, the national breakdowns don't really matter.

[elana i am]

4. yes...

but i think the overall influence nationally matters most here at this moment. local politics doesn't get as much play on the main stage here as the epic battle between right and left and by that i mean right and left in our own party. the philosophical debate between the sides of the dem party is second only to the vicious battle over party lines. notice i said philosophical debate vs. vicous battle*...

(*although, the philosophical debate here seems to be edging closer to all out battle by the moment.)

[elana i am]

2. my guesstimate

[OHdem10]

3. Centrists, Blue Dogs. , irregardless of numbers have the power.

Look at who was appointed to Administration.
Look at whom in House and the Senate(especially)always
get assigned to lead on legislation.
Look at who goes on Television. Not enough people
go on TV to put up the Democratic Side, but when they
do--who do you see?

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. You can't lump political influence w/ advantage of sheer numbers

Those with the political influence don't have the advantage of sheer numbers, and those with the advantage of sheer numbers lack political influence.

The real heart, the electoral heart, the ballot-casting heart of the party is a combination of union households, African Americans, women, (who may be all three), with other, smaller groups like the gay community.

These groups, while they are reliably Democratic, are often far from 'liberal' and 'progressive' as these terms are understood here.

The party can't win without them.

This was the whole point of Gibbs' comment about 'the professional left' -- they're only the cherry on the top of the cupcake.

[Common Sense Party]

6. Can you clearly differentiate for me between centrists and moderates?

I'm trying to figure out which box you would have me in.

[elana i am]

7. well i'm looking for really looking for

answers about why there's a disparity in our views about liberal influnce on the administration here at DU, not really asking you to categorize yourself. i'm curious if i'm an odd person out here at DU because i don't think we liberals and progressives constitute as much of the democratic party as we would like to believe we do.

my opinion on the matter is that moderates fall between liberals and centerists. what differentiates a centerist from a moderate is basically a matter of opinion but i tried to be neither too broad or too narrow in my categorizations