BOSTON - Massachusetts is a very Democratic state. In fact, since 1928 the state has voted Democrat in all but 4 elections (twice for Eisenhower in '52 and '56 and twice for Reagan in '80 and '84). With our many socially liberal policies, one might believe that Massachusetts could be considered one of the ideological hubs of the country, and a good incubator for liberal ideas.
Based on the title of this article, however, you know this is going in a different direction. CommonWealth magazine put together an extensive report which found, among other things, that the majority of voters in this staunchly blue state are moderate democrats.
Put simply, the report asked people from Massachusetts about eight issues that are considered more left, or vanguard. The green in the chart below represents how many people who are considered far-left and who agreed with these policies. The blue represents people who lean more to the middle and how much they agree with these policies.
The issue with this graphic is it doesn't explain that the green, in which 4 out of 5 voters (or more) agree with all these policies, only make up 22 percent of the electorate. The other group, which they call big middle democrats, accounts for the rest.
If you take all of that into account, the data here allows us to make some conclusions.
- Massachusetts is mostly center-left, not farther-left.
- The farther-left have a coherent list of policies which they overwhelmingly agree on (which doesn't happen often in politics).
- The center-left in MA can be swayed left on some larger issues (see: Medicare, Green New Deal, Electoral College).
As the article pointed out, the farther-left tends to make a bigger noise. This is why they might seem to dominate the conversation, even though, in reality in MA, most voters are center-blue.
How these findings will impact the election is up for debate. Does this mean Biden/Mayor Pete will be handed the nomination? Or is Massachusetts not as far left as the rest of the Democratic base? We'll get our answer soon enough.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
