Kos linked this interesting report. Thought it might spark some discussion here as well.

http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/PDFs/06CIRPFS_Norms_Narrative.pdf

Of core note is the greater overall interest in politics in general. There appears to be a distinct move from the center. It's some fun speculation as to why this is, but I suspect our new media environment today has more than a little to do with this.

Here are tabulated results from the polling. Interesting stuff overall! More than a few of these responses were not expected on my part at least! Check out the hand gun one!

Political statment asked if they agree to	lefty - middle - rightie
The federal government is not doing enough to control environmental pollution	88.5 79.3 62.5
A national health care plan is needed to cover everybody’s medical costs	83.9 74.2 57.0
Same-sex couples should have the right to legal marital status	83.6 63.0 30.4
The federal government should do more to control the sale of handguns	81.8 74.8 62.1
Abortion should be legal	78.3 56.3 31.8
Only volunteers should serve in the armed forces	73.0 62.1 53.6
Wealthy people should pay a larger share of taxes than they do now	71.6 57.8 42.2
Through hard work everybody can succeed in American society	68.3 79.9 85.4
Dissent is a critical component of the political process	66.1 59.5 63.2
The chief benefit of a college education is that it increases one’s earning power	59.6 68.8 70.8
Marijuana should be legalized	51.5 34.7 23.5
The death penalty should be abolished	48.0 31.7 22.5
Affirmative action in college admissions should be abolished	44.6 46.2 52.7
There is too much concern in the courts for the rights of criminals	43.2 58.3 67.6
Undocumented immigrants should be denied access to public education	34.0 47.5 61.4
The federal government should raise taxes to reduce the deficit	33.4 24.2 23.3
Colleges have the right to ban extreme speakers from campus	28.5 40.6 55.1
Realistically an individual can do little to bring about changes in our society	25.3 28.2 26.4
Federal military spending should be increased	18.4 31.7 50.4
Racial discrimination is no longer a major problem in America	12.6 18.7 27.8
It is important to have laws prohibiting homosexual relationships	11.0 22.8 48.5

I don't know wny the table text is so big, I did ask PDXRadio for the smaller size!

Nice find Missing. The line on whether or not marijuana should be legalized tells us something we've suspected for some time. Now we know. The left is made up of a bunch of young dope heads.

So there NOT as UPTIGHT as neo-CONs?????

>>>"So there NOT as UPTIGHT as neo-CONs?????"

Right you are.

Hey now! That's not fair, picking on the little lefties before they even reach drinking age.

Give 'em a little time!

The statements are ordered according to greatest agreement across political alignments. So, we've got the pot thing in the middle. But, we've got some very interesting ones at the top and bottom:

Look at the bottom two! Race and Gay issues. There is hope for us yet!

An the top few are just as interesting!

Environment, national healthcare, and same sex marriage being accepted!

IMHO, we've got some culture shear coming in about 10 years.


Pot will continue to be just important enough to make the list, but not so important as to actually work on any real agreement on it. The small time dealers and growers remain safe for a while.

Civil rights continue to be a focus as they should. Gun ownership continues toward a healthy balance between walking and packing and no guns period.

>>>Look at the bottom two! Race and Gay issues. There is hope for us yet!

And the really good news for Black people ... young righties hate you only half as much as they hate gays.

OK, as usual, I just hurt myself from one of Sutton's posts...this time from trying NOT to laugh...

Dissent is a critical component of the political process 66.1 59.5 63.2

That to me is the most telling. No matter how you slice it, we all feel dissent at some point is warranted.

Yep! I liked seeing that one too.

There is hope for us, as a people, yet. I would love to see this same set of statements polled to some older demos in a few key locations around the country.