"The death of the political middle, in 1 PowerPoint slide"

[applegrove]

The death of the political middle, in 1 PowerPoint slide

by Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/10/28/the-death-of-the-political-middle-in-1-powerpoint-slide/

"SNIP...........................

Looking for the political middle in Congress? It’s gone.

Check out this amazing chart courtesy of Bill McInturff of GOP polling firm Public Opinion Strategies — that uses National Journal’s vote ratings to illustrate the decline and near-disappearance of the political middle over the past three decades.

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In 1982, there were 344 Members whose voting records fell somewhere between the most conservative voting Democrat and the most liberal voting Republican in the House. Thirty years later, there were 11. That means that in 1982 the centrists — or at least those who by voting record were somewhere near the middle of their respective parties — comprised 79 percent of the House. In 2012 they made up 2.5 percent of the House. So, yeah.


..............................SNIP"

[Scuba]

1. Graphic suggests Dems have been getting more liberal. Clearly not true.

[adirondacker]

2. Zactly! The've moved way further right in the last several decades. The 11 should represent the

liberals left in the party.

[Spirochete]

3. The whole blue bar

needs to slide quite a ways to the right.