How would you describe the Democratic party?

[°Leprechaun]

I vote 'conservative'. I don't see much of a difference between the two parties. The 'Democratic' party is slightly better in miniscule ways but overall I think that they are very similar. I might vote for certain candidates in the future, but I am more likely to vote third party.

[John Dibble]

Liberal, trending towards very liberal. They should watch it before they alienate the moderates who would vote for them, which has already occured for some.

[MODU]

I vote liberal, but that isn't a fair choice.  Like the Republican Party, the Democratic party is made up of people who do not share the same views and opinions on a majority of the issues, but rather a small, select core concepts.  Both parties contain "liberals" and "conservatives," as well as a fair amount of moderates and progressives.  Unfortunately for both, the true party identity is hidden by their most outspoken members, which usually take the more extreme positions in the party (sometimes making the Democrats seem ultra liberal at times).  However, in whole, the Democratic party is liberal in comparison to the Republican party.  

[MODU]

Here is why I voted the way I did in this poll:

http://www.therealdifference.com/issues.html

http://www.therealdifference.com/issues2.html

Both links are misleading.  While they do state some of the positions taken initially, there are much more differences between the two dominant parties than the site states.  For example, it implies that both parties really don't differ much on the patriot act, which we can easily see is quite different.  For the most part, Republicans want to keep the Patriot act as it is, plus increase some of the controls within the system to ensure more security.  The Democrats, at a minimum, want parts of the act removed in the name of social freedom. 

However, the Green Party site takes a more extreme "view" of their positions, claiming the Republicans want to infringe on citizens rights, and the Democrats don't want to overturn or revise the act.  Of course, this is done specifically for the purpose of driving a stake at the heart of potential voters who don't really understand the issues or the various parties views on them. 

[J. J.]

I would argue that a lot of the good Democrats are being marginalized within the party.  I'm thinking of the Gary Hart's, the Joe Lieberman's, even the Dick Gephart's, are being driven out of power within the party; some that remain a drifting further to the left.

[MODU]

Obviously the links are partisan. Although some of it is certainly open to debate, I do think it reflects how similar the two parties are when it comes to major issues. The Democrats may articulate differences, but when it comes down to doing anything they remain passive.

A large part of that is that party members don't agree within their own parties, which makes it difficult to make a solid stance on an issue.  This is why a two-party dominated system is bad for the nation, since they are trying to cookie-cutter the society into one camp or another, when it would be much more efficient and truly representative of the nation if the two dominant parties were broken up, and reformed into smaller parties, giving the nation 4 or 5 different options to choose from.  It's easy now for the small third-parties to take strong opposing views from the other two dominant parties, but like with anything, that doesn't mean their views reflect those of the rest of the nation either.

[nlm]

I would describe them in similar terms to the GOP. A loose coalition that is too large to have a very defined meaning other than a desire to win and a willingness to shift with the changing tides.

[MasterJedi]

They're liberal though I can tell the far left wants to make them very liberal.

[memphis]

I would argue that a lot of the good Democrats are being marginalized within the party.  I'm thinking of the Gary Hart's, the Joe Lieberman's, even the Dick Gephart's, are being driven out of power within the party; some that remain a drifting further to the left.

Not so different than the alienation of "good Republicans" like Arlen Specter, Lincoln Chaffee, Susan Collins, any non fundie

[Defarge]

Moderate to Liberal, leaning liberal

[The Duke]

Librul.

[Frodo]

Liberal or Center-Left -if it were any further to the left especially on cultural issues and dovish on foreign policy than it already is, I would have switched parties by now.  As it is, I still have hope that it can be made to represent a broader constituency other than those who live either on the coasts or in major urban metropolises. 

[angus]

other.

[opebo]

liberal and moderate are the same thing.

[Democratic Hawk]

I vote liberal, but that isn't a fair choice.  Like the Republican Party, the Democratic party is made up of people who do not share the same views and opinions on a majority of the issues, but rather a small, select core concepts.  Both parties contain "liberals" and "conservatives," as well as a fair amount of moderates and progressives.  Unfortunately for both, the true party identity is hidden by their most outspoken members, which usually take the more extreme positions in the party (sometimes making the Democrats seem ultra liberal at times).  However, in whole, the Democratic party is liberal in comparison to the Republican party.  

^^^^^^^

[7,052,770]

liberal, but often too half-ass pansy liberal

It's time to grow some balls and actually support liberal and progressive policies.

[Josh/Devilman88]

Compair to the democrat party in the past... Very libearl.

[opebo]

Compair to the democrat party in the past... Very libearl.

You've got that backwards, at least on economic issues.

[Bdub]

I consider them liberal on social issues and moderate on economic ones.

[Democratic Hawk]

Since most Democrats are economically left-of-center, they could be defined as liberal but I do think the party is more split along social issues between liberals and populists

It's the same with the GOP, most are economically right-of-center, which defines them as conservatives but they, too, are split along social issues between conservatives and libertarians

The GOP is clearly the more 'hawkish' of the two these days, but there are still some Truman Defense Democrats

Dave

[GOP = Terrorists]

Moderate.  There are people who are conservative (Nelson) and people who are very liberal (Boxer).  Though there are seemingly no far left liberals elected to national office.