May 27th, 2009

New report says America is a center-left nation

By Mitch E. Perry

Read the original article at WMNF.

A new report released today by two liberal groups says a majority of Americans hold progressive positions on a broad range of controversial issues and key constituencies that favor progressives are growing larger.

Media Matters and the Campaign For America’s Future says it has come up with the conclusions based on looking closely at polls conducted by respected organizations from CNN/Opinion Research, Gallup, the Los Angeles Times as well population demographics.

Media Matters Eric Burns says that’s despite the mainstream media’s constant drumbeat that the country remains a “center-right" nation.

The Campaign for America’s Future’s Robert Borosage tried to break down the center-right myth.

Burns said there’s been an increase in what he terms as almost violent rhetoric when it comes to describing Barack Obama and his administration.

Heather Smith, executive director with Rock the Vote, said the premise that young people simply don’t vote in substantial numbers is a myth, and that young people’s attitudes are what’s leading the country to change on key social issues.

Page Gardner is with Women’s Voice, Women Vote. She said unmarried women voted for Barack Obama by a 70 to 29 percent margin last November.

Although there has been disappointment among some progressives that Obama has been too centrist in his first four months of office, Borosage of the Campaign For America’s Future disagrees.

WVWV News
11 Sep 09 | 14:03

By Liz Weiss

New data released today by the Census Bureau shows a statistically significant increase in the national poverty rate in 2008. Most adults (18 and over) in poverty are women; 59 percent of adults in poverty are women; and 13 percent of all adult women are in poverty. Three-quarters of these women are women on their own—widowed, divorced, separated, or never married—despite being less than half (47 percent) of the population of adult women. These unmarried women have appreciably higher poverty rates than married women—20.8 percent versus 6.2 percent. Yet unmarried women live in a variety of situations—they may be living with partners, they may be mothers, they may be elderly—and each group has unique circumstances and needs. Indeed, poverty rates vary greatly for women by family status, age, and race.

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03 Aug 09 | 16:05

Policymakers must ensure economic security for pregnant women and new mothers, write Melissa Alpert and Alexandra Cawthorne in the first of a new series from Center for American Progress.

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01 Jun 09 | 16:16

Page Gardner of Women’s Voices. Women’s Vote says those voters historically shut out of power are an essential voice in progressive economic policy because it affects their lives the most.

They care about good jobs; they need health care; they want this country to take care of its children through education.

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