Progressives feel strongly and consistently that corporations hold too much power, and they are willing to support practical policies that reduce or balance that power. Progressives are eager to see solutions to the problems of daycare, with 90 percent saying government should make a major investment in daycare centers. Agreement was also strong on abortion rights and on putting a priority on drug prevention over incarceration. On other questions, this constituency is divided or has reached only a weak consensus. Progressives split on gay rights issues, for example, with a substantial number strongly supporting making same- sex marriage legal at the federal level and 19 percent strongly opposed.
School vouchers are controversial.
While core progressives show strong agreement on identifying social problems, they are less unified when it comes to solutions. They may be very concerned about racism, for example, but their support for affirmative action is tepid. A strategy built on consolidating the core progressive constituency must include either new thinking about solutions or new efforts to gain support for existing models. As important as the program that can be drawn from this poll is the proof it offers that, for the most part, core progressives are demographically very similar to the rest of the country. Based on what we know from other polls, there is every reason to believe that what resonates most strongly with this population could generate majority support among the general public.