By the same token, Democrats run the risk of alienating real liberals,' said Andrew Kohut, of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, adding, his belief that the losses are not likely to be high. It smacks more of fascism than the Democratic Party. The Democratic platform and the position of the vice president are very clearly in support of treating gay and lesbian people equally. If you look at the period from the '60s, the Democrats came down on side of individual liberty and in that earlier period the party was associated with the excesses, and the Republicans were able to ride their opposition to the sexual revolution to national majority,' Greenberg said. While Republicans have the edge on moral values, Greenberg said the Gore-Lieberman ticket is 'playing on Democratic turf because we will advance both tolerance and openness, and a commitment to family.
Republican turf is an emphasis on family and morality with an emphasis on opportunity.
Democrats, more than Republicans, are actively engaged in working out the tensions between 'the choices women have achieved' through the women's rights movement, abortion rights and improved contraception, and public concern over cultural and social forces that 'threaten values and erode strong families,' Greenberg said. Social liberalism, most especially support for abortion rights, has become a pillar of the Democratic Party as the demographic composition of the nation has changed. The changes in family structure have been accompanied by a major shift in public attitudes and in private behavior, according to Smith. If you look at the actual attitudes of people, there is a decided difference.