The Centrist counter-attack

The Driscolls aren’t just among a tiny slice of swing voters — they represent millions of moderate and independent voters across Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio and throughout America. Most important for the president and Democrats in Congress, they represent the base of the Democratic Party.

In post-election polling by Third Way, and confirmed by national exit polls, the plurality of those who pulled the lever for President Barack Obama were not liberals but self-described moderates. In fact, 56 percent of those who voted for the president defined their own ideology as either moderate or conservative. A supermajority of Obama voters said they wanted the president to be more moderate or conservative in his second term compared with his first. And overwhelmingly, they wanted the president and members of Congress from both parties to compromise rather than stand their ground. In fact, the most unanimously supported statement in the post-election poll of 800 Obama voters was this: “Democrats and Republicans both need to make real compromises to come to an agreement on fixing the deficit.” A full 96 percent agreed with that statement.

Just like Bob and Evelyn, these voters worry about our nation’s fiscal situation — 7 in 10 said the federal deficit was a major problem — and they think we need to fix it in a balanced way. Eighty-two percent thought both spending cuts and tax increases should be involved (only 5 percent chose raising taxes alone). They want Social Security and Medicare to be protected, but they also think the programs have major financial problems that need to be fixed. Eight in 10 Obama voters say it would be better for the future of the country if Congress and the president made changes to Social Security and Medicare — only 19 percent say it would be better to leave them alone. They want to see Congress and the president work together across the aisle to put these programs on a sustainable path, so that the protections will be there for themselves and future generations.

The New Democrat Coalition and Third Way believe we should heed the advice from Bob, Evelyn and so many moderate voters like them and use the 113th Congress to address our nation’s problems with pragmatism, balance and a willingness to compromise to get things done. That means getting our fiscal house in order by increasing revenue, but also ensuring that crucial programs like Social Security and Medicare are on a path that is affordable and sustainable for the long term.