For a substantial number of all voters, 43 percent, it’s still best to describe a political candidate as being like Ronald Reagan, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twenty-six percent see it as a negative, while 29 percent regard it as somewhere in between. Just 2 percent are undecided.
Nearly half of men, 48 percent, see a comparison with Reagan as a positive, as do 40 percent of the women. Twenty-five percent of men say it’s a negative, while 26 percent see it as somewhere in between. Nearly one-third of women, 32 percent, say it’s in between, while 26 percent view it as a negative.
While 81 percent of Republicans consider a comparison with Reagan as a positive, just 16 percent of Democrats agree. Fifty-one percent of Democrats see it as a negative, vs. 3 percent of GOP voters. Democrats view a Reagan comparisonby two-to-one as somewhere in between.
Thirty-eight percent of unaffiliated voters say being compared with Reagan is a positive, 16 percent say it’s a negative, and 44 percent see it as somewhere in between.
Calling a candidate a progressive or a moderate is positive for 40 percent of the voters, while 15 percent see progressive as a negative, and 40 percent somewhere in between. Eight percent view moderate as a negative, while half say it’s somewhere between the two.
Among Democrats, 64 percent see progressive as a positive, compared with 17 percent of Republicans and 32 percent of unaffiliated voters. For nearly half of GOP voters and unaffiliateds, it’s somewhere in between positive and negative.
Forty-five percent of unaffiliated voters say moderate is a positive, a view shared by 47 percent of Democrats and 28 percent of Republicans. Forty-seven percent of unaffiliateds say it’s somewhere in-between, and so do 58 percent of Republicans and 45 percent of Democrats.
Thirty-seven percent say it is a positive to describe a candidate as politically conservative. Twenty-two percent see that as a negative comparison, and 40 percent find it somewhere in-between.
Seventy-one percent of GOP voters see conservative as a positive description of a candidate, as do 26 percent of unaffiliated voters and 16 percent of Democrats. Thirty-nine percent of Democrats say it’s a negative. More than half of unaffiliated voters, 54 percent see conservative as somewhere in between, along with 42 percent of Democrats and 25 percent of Republicans.
At the low end, just 19 percent regard it as a positive to describe a candidate as politically liberal. Thirty-six percent say it’s a negative reference. It falls somewhere between negative and positive for 41 percent.
Thirty-three percent of Democrats view liberal as a positive comparison, compared with 6 percent of Republicans and 14 percent of unaffiliated voters. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans see liberal as a negative, as do 30 percent of unaffiliateds and 14 percent of Democrats. Almost half of Democrats, 48 percent and a majority of unaffiliated voters 52 percent, it’s somewhere in between, a view shared by 24 percent of GOP voters.