Paramount Skydance CEO has repeatedly cited the statistic when laying out the approach that CBS News and potentially CNN would take
During an early March appearance on CNBC, the Paramount Skydance chief executive, David Ellison, cited a statistic he has come to rely on when laying out his editorial approach for CBS News and, potentially, the cable network he has made a deal to own, CNN. The young media mogul said the networks will prioritize reaching “the 70% of Americans and really around the world that identify as center-left, as center-right”.
The idea of an unaddressed center ground is a powerful talking point. In a world of increasingly partisan politics, Ellison’s promise to address the unheard, silent majority packs a punch – and fits nicely with the approach of one of his most high-profile lieutenants, the heterodox commentator Bari Weiss.
Unfortunately, it appears that Ellison’s 70% figure is not supported by publicly available polling data on the ideological orientation of Americans.
A recent YouGov survey – conducted last fall and published in January – found that only 40% of US adult citizens identify as “center-left”, “center” or “center-right”, not 70%.
It’s propaganda. The guys a propagandist.
It doesn’t matter anyways because most people will always claim to be “in the middle” because the people to either extreme are always loudest.
You poll them on policies, and suddenly everyone is a “far left extremist” for wanting safety nets and basic standards for human existence.
You ask right/center/left at face value, and the answers will always be about the same despite what’s going on in reality.
To put it more directly, anyone with a political ideology based on having a position relative to two or more other positions seems constantly so desperate to appear like an enlightened, balanced thinker while also having a political that’s nearly entirely worthless. They’re great at voting against stuff but their spines are jelly and it’s so fucking hard to get them to commit to fuckin’ anything.
And it carries over in their lives! Trying to get a hard opinion out of them on anything is so hard! They’re so scared of being “wrong” that they constantly half-ass everything they do and I’m so tired of it. Just commit to something, please!
(Maybe we need to start running actual super far left parties in the world to centralize regular leftist parties to get these people to finally behave lol)
Maybe we need to start running actual super far left parties in the world to centralize regular leftist parties to get these people to finally behave lol
Yes, entirely unironically. It’s a negotiation technique called “anchoring”.
The sound of a man wanging away at the overton window with a crowbar.
“Nepotism-Hire David Ellison says that his daddy says he can do whatever he wants.”
Ah. Today in “CEO said”…
We do not give a fuck.
according to Gallup’s data from 2025, more than half of Americans – 54% – identify as either Democrats or Republicans, with another 35% characterized as “Republican-leaning independents” or “Democratic-leaning independents”. Pew data has the number of self-identified Republicans or Democrats at 59%.
Ok, but what does that mean? “Republican” and “Democrat” are not ideologies, they’re political parties. And very broad parties, at that. Because of our de facto two party system, both parties usually try to be “big tents.” So neither party ever has exclusively one ideology.
What is the guiding ideology of the Republican party (or rather, what was it before the party became the cult of Trump)? What is the guiding ideology of the Democratic party? I think it used to be Neoliberalism, or “Third Way” Liberalism. But what is it today? Is it still Third Way Liberalism, like during the Bill Clinton era? Or is it more traditional Social Democracy?
In a lot of ways, the Third Way was meant to be a compromise between Neoliberals and Social Democrats, but are either of those sides willing to compromise today? Should they compromise? It seems to me there are aspects of Neoliberalism and Social Democracy that are mutually exclusive. For instance, Neoliberalism usually wants lower taxes, but Social Democrats want a strong social safety funded by a progressive tax system, which usually means higher taxes, at least for income earners near the top. Well, taxes can’t be both lower and higher at the same time, so which is it? You can compromise and just lower taxes a little, and have a smaller safety net, but while compromise seems like a good idea, it usually just ends up with watered down policies that no one is fully happy with.
So where are the majority of Americans, ideologically? Is there a majority ideological consensus? If so, what is it?
by who’s standards of ‘centrist’?
American standards being between dem an gop?
yeah. fuck that.
between american politicians and europoe? maybe?
LOL, I’d love to know what the “centrist” position really is on a whole host of issues.
