U.S.: A CENTER RIGHT NATION?

One frequently hears the comment that the U.S. is a center right nation. Is it true? Consider the following, Obama won with 53% of the vote in 2008. But when Democrats win, 53% is just about as large as the wins get with a few exceptions (Lyndon Johnson did get 61.1% of the popular vote in 1964 and Franklin Roosevelt won 60.8% of the vote in 1936).*

There are no wins since Roosevelt like the Republicans had against George McGovern in 1972 where he won only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, even though he was a war hero in WW-II and opposed the Vietnam War. Nixon won with 60.7% of the popular vote and 93.3% of the electoral vote, even though he resigned the presidency before his term ended. Ronald Reagan won 58.8% of the popular vote against Walter Mondale, also a veteran, and 525 of the electoral vote for 95.2% of the electoral vote. Mondale only won Minnesota and the District of Columbia. The Electoral college often magnifies a president's win.

These Republican landslides since Roosevelt suggest that America indeed is at least a center right country. Still as I written before, in the end liberalism wins in this country (http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2009/12/in-end-liberalism-wins.html).

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_landslide_victories