It’s interesting how both Mamdani and Collins have such a high “not sure” percentage. For the former, I think it’s because he’s a democratic socialist who reached out to a lot of people who voted for orangeboi to understand why, and actually listened to the shit they didn’t like about Biden and the DNC in general. For the latter, I think it’s because most people think she’s such a fucking idiot - seriously, she’s like one step up from RFK.
this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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There is not a single person on this list who could truly be described as left and only one who could even be described as centrist (Mamdani)
Who could then be described as left? You know being left of center counts you as left, right?
Zohran and Kamala are tied for far-left at 37%. How tf? One of these people wanted to tax the rich and one of these people wanted to give tax breaks for private equity to build homes.
Propoganda is a hell of a drug.
lol americans' political literacy and their overton window are both fucked.
Note the bias in the chart, putting "not sure" to the right of "centrist." The whole thing is skewed because of it!
Agreed. "Not sure" should be the same choice as centrist. Either they should share the center space as the same answer or centrist shouldn't even be a choice, especially when the survey also lists center right and center left as options.
"Not sure" should be a separate graph. It makes it look like the perception of people who are less known is not as extreme. The graph should show the opinions of people who have opinions.
Should've been equally split, or omitted.
Okay, but what's the source of the data?? This is some what meaningless without that. Info like that is pretty important. Many people already sharing this without any questions.
Who the fuck are the 4% that thought Trump was far left?!?
In all surveys you always get a small percentage that either doesn't understand the question or just likes to troll. I am hoping that is this.
Edit: also a few that said Bernie and AOC are far right
Same ones who thought Obama didn't do enough as President on 9/11.
"We got to get to the bottom why Obama wasnt in the white house on 9/11"
Racism.
Those are people who are just voting to move the Overton window right.
Lizardman Constant
Biden is a centrist at best. Far left my ass. Our view of the political spectrum is so warped.
74% describe Obama, someone that literally wrote a pro-deregulation op-ed in The Wall Street Journal while in office, as left wing.
This is what people are talking about when they say there's no left-wing representation in America.
He would be considered a solid right in Canada.
I considered him to be solid right when he started his career. His politics is definitely not far right, and it's leaned more left over time. But I would consider him right, except the far right have gone so off the deep end. We also don't have like... An anarchist party or any real far left politicians in America.
That's most of the reason I said "at best". He's much farther right than the right seem to think he is. Everything is messed up here.
When you look at the numbers, you can gather that most far left propositions probably come from maga supporters.
You can derive from that that only 4% of non maga consider Sanders as far left.
Maybe the graph should be corrected and fascists' views disregarded.
Fascists should not and cannot be included in any reasonable political system.
It's because they don't have an understanding of what Marxism or what communism and anarchism actually are.
Data is beautiful and this chart is probably very accurate, but America's understanding of and perception of the political spectrum has moved so far to the right that we can't even ~~fine~~ find the witness marks of where everything should be.
Label everything communism or socialism and pretend we know what we're talking about.
"Our"....
You should know that there is a constant in American political geography that 30-35% are crazy people who watch Fox News (or similar) as their only news source. They also believe in new earth creationism, don't believe in evolution, and believe the end times are near when they will be raptured to heaven.
You used to talk to these people all the time at school and at work, and you would kinda shrug and be like "weird guy, but he gets his shit done, so whatever".
Then you would hear about them online. It became a lot more contentious when you heard all their ideas spelled out all at once, when they could go on long distribes describing exactly what they believed and why. But it was easy to dismiss these ranters and ravers on the forums of old as lone nutjobs - at least if you didn't run into them regularly.
But the fact is, they make up 1/3 of the US population, living among us, moving around like ghosts. They've learned not to discuss their controversial opinions in public anymore. A large number of them have physically moved to various enclaves where others like them live - gated suburbs, exurbs, rural communuties, etc. Almost all of them have moved to digital enclaves where they can be amongst their own, so we almost never interact with them online unless we seek them out. But they're still out there, being crazy, doing stupid shit, and voting.
It's quite annoying
Describes a terrifying situation thst could be ripped straight from the pages of a Stephen King novel .
its quite annoying.
Its truly baffling the level of crazy bullshit is just normal now.
Its truly baffling the level of crazy bullshit is just normal now.
I think it is important to remember that this is not "normal now". These sorts of beliefs were accepted as pretty normal for decades, and for many people in the time before that, were the standard and only beliefs that existed.
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Bernie and AOC being described as "far left" makes me think US citizens are even more politically illiterate than I previously thought, which is extremely surprising, because I already believed they had the political literacy of an unborn child.
It's all perspective. Our "far left" is probably your center.
If you lived in North Korea all your life you'd probably think Kim Jong Un was center aligned.
The problem is how far the entire country's politics has shifted right. They are far left in comparison to the other politicians up for comparison. We literally have no representation for Marxism, communism, socialism, or anarchism. Because of that, it's basically all right wing politicians by a proper metric but some will fall left of the center of the median line for the politicians we have.
I do agree that America as a whole has a political literacy problem.
Some percentage considering Bernie far right is wild.
We have to compare them to the fascists on the other side. In that context, they are far left.
Not really how that works.
Which is wrong and just leads to people electing right-wing Democrats who enable the Republicans as things continue getting worse.
I think it's fairer to compare them to the actual centre.
The typical centrist is social liberal or a Christian democrat. Kind of the "I just wanna grill" person. Will treat anybody with respect and probably kick out whoever threatens with violence against people like him or not that far off his views.
Nobody on the list is far-left. The closest to that would be someone from the Black Panther Party, but those no longer exist as a unified entity.
AOC and Mamdani I'd label as democratic socialists, so left.
Bernie Sanders is a typical centre-left politician, pretty good.
Joe Biden I'd label as a centrist, centre-right Christian democrat. His fiscal teachings are somewhat coloured by Catholic social teaching - moreso than the next.
Liz Cheney would almost be a Christian democrat, were it not for her heavily libertarian leanings rather than supporting subsidiarity, which would be much more in line with Christian social teaching. In the latter, people would first take care of their family and friends, and after that, the state. She'd be centre-right, closer to right-wing, due to her libertarian mindset.
George W. Bush would be inbetween a conservative liberal and a right-wing populist, leaning closer to the latter. He's right wing.
DeSantis, Musk, and Trump, are all far-right. There's no need for meaningful distinction between, as they're all enemies of the people.
Personally, I think most 'normal' people would consider the (nonexistent) far-left crazy, AOC up to Joe Biden 'normal', and Liz a bit wack but still someone one could talk to.
Bush and the rest, they're crazy. Bush can be seen as an enabler of the rest, just like how Reagan enabled politicians like him to fetter.
In more normal areas, it'd be considered political suicide to take stances like those of Liz and further to the right.
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Everything about this is nuts, but a special lol Kamala Harris on the far-left.
Kamala Harris number makes a gauge for the proportion of maga brainwashed people.
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Not even John Fetterman is really sure of John Fetterman's political views these days.
Putting Cheney on the Left is just wild, I had to check her Wikipedia page and there is absolutely nothing remotely leftist in any of her positions and actions.
I was going to bring that up too. I think its because she stood up against Trump, so many Republicans (knowingly or not) probably think she must be left if she doesn't agree with Trump.
Basically, if you're not my kind of republican, you must be a democrat.
You are correct that she is a pretty standard neocon in her platform.
Sadly, it is not even hyperbole to say that: in the US, denouncing Trump while accepting a family member who is gay (having eventually reconciled with her sister Mary,) makes her a super-turbo-leftist as far as most low-information voters are concerned.
These opinions arent based on researched facts, but vibes. Those people likely literally only heard of Cheney when she came out in support of Harris. And according to Fox, Harris is far left.
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The republicans are way more successful in their propaganda. They designate popular people as far left and that is amplified in the media. That doesn't happen on the other side
Being called far left by the RINOs (who now comprise most of the party) is a compliment.
Not for the voters. The effect on most voters is a negative one.
And? I'm talking about it as if when I were called that. RINOs like the Trumpists are so far gone that to them anyone who disagrees with their Trumpist narrow mindset, is a traitor (hey, one of the characteristics of fascism according to Eco!).
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