The Four Americas
Overview of the Framework
Adapting to the short attention span of many modern readers, let’s get right to the point.
U.S. Political Compass by Party
The political compass (shown below) is a model that has a vertical axis as a social scale and a horizontal axis as an economic scale. It has gained popular use worldwide, and is the topic of several subreddit channels. These channels discuss an endless variety of topics using this framework, which includes what are sometimes described as populist attitudes. Adapted for the U.S., the model shown above depicts the four largest official parties in the United States and changes the colors to those familiar in U.S. politics. In order of size, the parties are Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, and Green, which has led to a fairly evenly matched political divide in national elections, of the individualist parties versus the collectivist parties.
Pew Research Center Survey Shows Populism as Part of a Complex Political Landscape
A Pew Research Center survey of the U.S. general public, in 2021, showed nine clusters that were as divided within the Democrat and Republican parties as they were between them. The study used a statistical method called factor analysis that identifies groups of respondents who answer similarly to each other. In other words, the responses from each cluster tended to “hang together.” The clusters did not line up tidily along our standard left-right political spectrum. One writer interpreted the Pew study as follows:
Despite surveys having found broad support for a third party outside the two major ones, the study shows that there's no magic middle. In fact, the study finds that the three groups with the most self-identified independents "have very little in common politically." (Montanaro, 2021, para. 5)
The Pew researchers assigned each group a spot along the familiar right-to-left spectrum. However, the political compass seems to offer a better way to understand the groupings. The Pew Research Center (2021) described the characteristics of nine clusters referred to as types. Below, eight of the types I mapped into quadrants of the U.S. political compass with a summary of the characteristics from the poll dataset. The ninth type, which the Pew researchers named stressed sideliners, are largely apolitical. I’ve left them off the quadrants, but I’ll get back to discussing them in a future post.
That’s the end, unless you’re using assistive technology that will read audibly the image above, or if you want to read the references section. See the related post on egregores.
Repeat of Quadrants Content
This section repeats the writing in the quadrants, for any who have difficulty reading in that format. Groups are presented in order of political party size. What’s the benefit of the quadrant format anyway? It’s a heuristic that can stick in the visual memory.
Blue Quadrant (top left)
Pew type: Democratic mainstays
• Largest of the Dem-leaning groups
• Older, less college educated
• Most identify as moderate
• Most racially and ethnically diverse of all the groups; many Black Democrats
• Liberal views on race, economics and the social safety net, but more conservative on immigration, crime, military power
• Reliable voters
Pew type: Establishment liberals
• Liberal but prefer gradual change
• Recognize societal ills around race and need for correction, but it should come from laws and institutions
• More likely to back compromise
• Generally optimistic about politics
Very politically active
Red Quadrant (top right)
pro-establishment
Pew type: Committed conservatives
• Highly educated
• Pro-business
• Pro well-managed immigration
• Globalist (support U.S. in world affairs)
• Want limited government
• Fans of Reagan but not Trump
• Very politically active
Pew type: Faith and flag conservatives
• Deeply conservative across issues
• Christianity belongs in public life
• Mostly white and older age
• Strong trump supporters
• Say Jan 6 event overblown by media
• Very politically active
Yellow Quadrant (bottom right)
Pew type: Populist right
• Least college educated
• Negative view of public education
• Most likely to live in a rural area
• Most fervent hard-liners on immigration
• Say U.S. law favors a powerful few
• Say tax the rich more
• Strong Trump supporters
• Very politically concerned
Pew type: Ambivalent right
• Young, not religious
• Want limited government
• Want stricter immigration policy, but it’s not a top issue
• Lean lib on abortion, gay rights, & legalizing recreational drugs
• Most are not Trump supporters
• Not as politically active
Green Quadrant (bottom left)
Pew type: Progressive left
• Young and highly educated
• Largest group to say it backed Sen. Bernie Sanders or Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the primaries (but voted Dem in general election)
• More than two-thirds white
• Extremely liberal policy positions
• Very politically active
Pew type: Outsider left
• Especially liberal on issues of race, immigration, and climate
• Many identify as independents
• Not thrilled with Dems or Republicans
• Don’t believe the U.S. is the best nation
• Less politically active; less reliable voters
• Side Democratic when they do vote
References
Montanaro, D. (2021). Feel like you don't fit in either political party? Here's why. https://www.npr.org/2021/11/09/1053929419/feel-like-you-dont-fit-in-either-political-party-heres-why#ambivalent
Pew Research Center. (2021). Beyond red vs. blue: The political typology. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/11/PP_2021.11.09_political-typology_REPORT.pdf