DISQUS

Bilgrimage: The Center Moves Left, but Media Continue to Tack Right: Continued Work for Religious Progressives

  • terenceweldon · 2 months ago
    Bill, if I can step aside from religion and sexuality for once and venture into the foreign territory (literally, for me) of US domestic politics:

    With my interest in anything to do with figures as well as politics, I watched the polls and commentary on the US election 08 probably a lot more closely than most Americans. The fascinating thing about this "centre - right country" is that is how most Americans describe themselves in surveys - until you start to question specific issues. Then the picture changes somewhat, so that statistical analysis of detailed responses shows that in fact the electorate is in fact centre-left: they just describe themselves as conservative because they seem to think that is the "respectable " place to be - and because that's how the MSM play it.

    Nate Silver's fivethirtyeight.com, and also the guys at pollster.com, did a great job of making sense of huge piles of survey data before the election, and continues to do great work.

    Nate has also stuck his neck out, using regression analysis to predict a defeat for the marriage opponents in Maine - and so an embarrassment for the Bishop of Portland. Look forward to an increasing number of states from next year successfully overturning marriage bans.
  • WDL · 2 months ago
    Terry, I've been following Nate Silver's analysis of the Maine polls with interest. I hope his predictions are right. The latest polls are a dead heat, and bigots often do not tell pollsters that they intend to vote their prejudice when they go to the polling booths.

    Still, with each new vote on these matters, there's increasing movement in the direction of human rights and away from prejudice, and the day will eventually dawn . . . .