Conservatives' GSS Responses Prove How Extreme Palin Is

by: Daniel De Groot

Sat Sep 27, 2008 at 09:00

Sarah Palin has through a number of incidents in her past revealed an array of views that seem pretty extreme to us hemorrhaging liberals. More than one person has witnessed Palin asking the librarian about "removing" books from the library. What books did she want to ban? Turns out she was incensed about some gay-positive books.

So what do conservatives think about this idea of banning pro-gay books from libraries? Well, if we asked them today, it would be hard to trust the answer given the incentive they have to support Palin. Fortunately, it turns out the GSS has been asking this for many years, so conservatives are on record. Survey says:
Chart of American views on book banning by ideology

Daniel De Groot :: Conservatives' GSS Responses Prove How Extreme Palin Is

Oops. That's just 29% of self-identified conservatives who support the idea of removing pro-gay books from public libraries. This data is culled from GSS data from 2000 forward.

Ok, so that's banning books which say it's ok to be gay. Turns out the GSS has asked about a second Palin position we know about and the results are no better. That would be her opposition to abortion after a rape:
Chart of opinion on abortion

Well here she does better. By 1% more. Yes, 30% of conservatives told GSS that they believe abortion should not be allowed in cases of rape.

Of course, Palin has a host of other positions to the right of Genghis Khan's crazy conservative uncle. Aerial hunting of wolves. First guessing Israel. Blinking. But unfortunately the GSS doesn't have any questions on those. But I think this ably demonstrates how out of the mainstream she is. Not even a decent minority of her own ideological group supports her on these. Conservative apologists will no doubt claim that Palin never actually banned any books, but she is definitely on record opposing abortion in cases of rape.

Tags: banning books, abortion, Rape, Conservativism, ideology, Sarah Palin, (All Tags)

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Conservatives' GSS Responses Prove How Extreme Palin Is | 4 comments

You Beat Me To It! (4.00 / 2)

I had been planning to do something like this. I've pointed out before how marginal movement conservatives are--in "The Deep--And Hidden--Divide In American Politics", for example--by looking at the most extreme positions, which, actually, Palin falls short of. First off, she's not opposed to abortion to save the life of the mother. And second, we don't know for certain how anti-spending she is, as opposed to the likes of Grover Norquist.

Still, we do have this:

which puts her off in 13.4% land. And for an elected official, that's pretty far out there.

Just to refresh folks' memory, here what it looks like when we combine the two issues, positions re abortion and re spending:

The pure, "true conservative" position--opposing all abortion, and wanting to cut, if not eliminate social spending--is supported by 1.3% of the population. If, like Palin, you make an exception for the life of the mother, then it rises to 2.4%.

On the other extreme, if you support abortion in all 3 cases--rape, birth defects and life or health of the mother--and you support increased social spending on a majority of the six program areas ("the nation's health," "the problems of the big cities," "nation's education system," "Improving the conditions of Blacks," and "Welfare)m then you're part of a substantial minority block, 21.8%. If we loosen the restrictions to include all those who favor some increase in social spending, then this becomes a clear majority: 55.8%

So, that's what they mean by "extremists on both sides." 2.4% on the right vs. 55.8% on the left.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

by: Paul Rosenberg @ Sat Sep 27, 2008 at 08:59:18 AM CDT

by: you @ soon

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How in Hell (4.00 / 1)

Can anyone equate banning books as a component of being liberal. Is it just me or does anyone else see this as definitional? It looks to me like about 18% of those who identify as being liberal do not understand what the word means.

by: Hugh Stearns @ Sat Sep 27, 2008 at 09:20:44 AM CDT

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Yes (0.00 / 0)

That is a problem. There is no universal definition of "liberal" and "conservative" in any case so it shouldn't surprise us that average people don't really know either.

Still, considering that "liberal" has been perverted by the right so that many people who actually are liberal call themselves "moderate" or even "conservative" I think the best we can hope for is that the self-id'ed "liberals" in these polls do better than the moderates and conservatives on these issues. Which they do.

I didn't post it, but when this question was asked by partisan affiliation, Democrats were slightly more likely than Republicans to support book removal. Independents did best. It was a strange result which underscores the importance of ideology (even when people's understanding of it is mushy).

by: Daniel De Groot @ Sat Sep 27, 2008 at 10:44:53 AM CDT

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