The Liberal Left is the Base of the Party

[Recursion]

119. Depends on what you mean by "base". Compare DU candidate support to the primaries

The left a la what you see here on DU is basically a non-factor in any aspect of US politics. Consider DU's support levels for, say, Kucinich or Gravel (or dare I say Nader?), compared with the votes they receive. The more hinged left of national politics is of growing importance in the Democratic coalition, but you should also remember it's only since 2011 that self-identified liberals outnumbered moderates among Democrats, and we're still much smaller than moderates + conservatives.

Compare the trend among Democrats:



To the trend among Republicans:



When we're 70% of the Democratic party like that, we can talk about being a "base" in the way that the right is for the GOP. As it is, though, our party remains a coalition party, where the "base" such as it is is the squishy middle.