It's often said that a liberal is someone so reasonable he won't take his own side in an argument. At a time when we hear a lot about "the extremes on both sides," Gallup has some interesting poll results to show (via Jon Chait):
I've circled the key parts. You'll note that those who describe themselves as very liberal are no different from those who describe themselves as liberal or even moderate; they overwhelmingly favor compromise over sticking to your beliefs even if little gets done. It's the "very conservative" folks who are the outliers. The same is true if you divide the data by liberal/moderate Democrats and conservative/moderate Republicans.
It's possible that conservatives view "getting things done" in Washington primarily as government action, while inaction is perfectly fine with them, since they're opposed to much of what government does. But one thing this does demonstrate is that for all the talk of the intransigent liberals willing, for instance, to reject health-care reform because of a lack of a public option, that picture doesn't seem to reflect reality. It may be true of some very visible activists, but not of the broader population.
It also seems to be true, to a substantial degree, of the two parties in Congress. Whenever there's a big, complex bill that requires lots of compromise, liberal representatives object at various points, but in the end they almost always agree to the compromise. The ones unwilling to go along are more likely to be the moderate Democrats. The dynamic is different on the other side, because there just aren't very many moderate Republicans left in Congress to begin with. And at the moment, everyone in the Republican Party is terrified of what those uncompromising conservatives will do to them if they aren't kept happy.
-- Paul Waldman
