‘On many issues US leftists are much more extreme than europeans. ’ Do you have data for this?
I recall, but can’t find a Financial Times article from year or two ago which gave polling showing that Dem voters in the US appear to be slightly more left-wing on social issues (other than abortion) than Labour voters in the UK. That supports “left is left-er in the US on social issues.” But this was outweighed by conservatives voters in the UK being FAR to the left of Republicans on social issues, so it also supports “US more right-wing overall. And the cliché is that the UK is a right-wing outlier by Western European standards (though I haven’t seen hard data backing that up, and I suspect that insofar as it is true, we’re talking economic left rather than social).
I think left-leaning Americans are often keener on a specific set of taboos around talking in a sufficiently “politically correct/woke”* way. But that is not really the same thing as being more left-wing on substantive issues, not even social issues. (I’m not very keen on that way of talking, but I do believe in trans inclusion, except maybe in some sport, probably support open borders and less restrictive drug laws, probably reject retributivism about punishment, am pro-choice, at least neutral to mildly favourable on deliberately trying to employ more women and people of colour in positions of influence etc.)
*I hate these terms, but there is no non-pejorative equivalent and everyone knows roughly what I mean.
‘On many issues US leftists are much more extreme than europeans. ’ Do you have data for this?
I recall, but can’t find a Financial Times article from year or two ago which gave polling showing that Dem voters in the US appear to be slightly more left-wing on social issues (other than abortion) than Labour voters in the UK. That supports “left is left-er in the US on social issues.” But this was outweighed by conservatives voters in the UK being FAR to the left of Republicans on social issues, so it also supports “US more right-wing overall. And the cliché is that the UK is a right-wing outlier by Western European standards (though I haven’t seen hard data backing that up, and I suspect that insofar as it is true, we’re talking economic left rather than social).
I think left-leaning Americans are often keener on a specific set of taboos around talking in a sufficiently “politically correct/woke”* way. But that is not really the same thing as being more left-wing on substantive issues, not even social issues. (I’m not very keen on that way of talking, but I do believe in trans inclusion, except maybe in some sport, probably support open borders and less restrictive drug laws, probably reject retributivism about punishment, am pro-choice, at least neutral to mildly favourable on deliberately trying to employ more women and people of colour in positions of influence etc.)
*I hate these terms, but there is no non-pejorative equivalent and everyone knows roughly what I mean.