Fact Check: "America is a Liberal Nation" poster

Aug 12, 2024

Here are the facts and the sources so you can do your own fact-check and share this good news about our Liberal America with others:

“69% OF AMERICANS SUPPORT LEGAL ABORTION”

Source: Six months before the Supreme Court upended nearly 50 years of protection for a woman’s right to control her own body, CNN (1.21.2022) asked the American public “Would you like to see the Supreme Court completely overturn its Roe v. Wade decision?” — and 69% said NO. The Supreme Court then voted to completely overturn Roe v. Wade. Since then, every time abortion has been placed on the ballot, Americans have voted to protect abortion rights — including in red states like Kansas, Kentucky, Montana and Ohio. An AP-NORC poll from July 2024 asked if abortion “should be legal or illegal” and 70% of adults stated that abortion “should be legal in all or most cases.” And in August 2024, Marquette University Law School (a Catholic university) released a national poll that found 67% of Americans oppose the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“72% OF US DON’T OWN A GUN”

Source: YouGov (6.04.2024), Pew (7.24.2024), Gallup (10.23.2023) — YouGov found 76% of Americans don’t personally own a gun. Gallup puts that number at 70%, while Pew Research puts it at 68%. Averaging these polls together, we arrive at almost 72% who don’t own a gun.

“90% OF US WANT MORE GUN CONTROL LAWS”

Source: Gallup (June 2022) — 92% are in favor of “Requiring background checks for all gun sales”; 86% are in favor of “Prohibiting people who have been determined to be a danger to themselves or others from purchasing guns.”; Quinnipiac says 89% support requiring background checks for all gun buyers. A FOX News poll in 2023 found that 87% support requiring criminal background checks for ALL gun buyers; 77% support a required 30-day waiting period for ALL gun purchases; 81% support raising the legal age to buy a gun to 21; 80% are in favor of requiring mental health checks for ALL gun purchasers; 80% also want the police to “take guns from those considered a danger to themselves or others.” And 61% of people in the FOX News poll support banning assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons.

“72% OF US BELIEVE THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS REAL”

Source: Yale (12.13.2023) — When asked “Do you think that global warming is happening?” — 72% said YES. Pew (10.25.2023): 71% say that climate change is “causing harm to people in the U.S.” and 63% expect that harm from climate change “will get worse in their lifetime.”

“71% OF US SUPPORT LABOR UNIONS”

Source: AFL-CIO poll (10.16.2023) — “7 in 10 or 71% approve of labor unions – that includes 91% of Democrats, 69% of independents, and 52% of Republicans; 75% support workers going on strike to fight for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.”; Gallup (8.30.2022): “Seventy-one percent of Americans now approve of labor unions. Although statistically similar to last year's 68%, it is up from 64% before the pandemic and is the highest Gallup has recorded on this measure since 1965.”

“79% OF US WANT THE RICH TO PAY MORE TAXES”

Source: Navigator Research (2.27.2024) — “Four in five Americans support raising taxes on the rich (79 percent), including 94 percent of Democrats, 78 percent of independents, and 63 percent of Republicans. Nearly two in three Americans who say they voted for Donald Trump in 2020 support raising taxes on the wealthy (63 percent), along with over four in five who say they are unfavorable to both Joe Biden and Donald Trump (85 percent).” This number is not an aberration. A Bloomberg poll of only swing state voters found “69% of registered voters in seven swing states say they favor higher taxes on billionaires, and they support higher income taxes on people who make more than $400,000 a year by the same margin.” Even a FOX News poll found 70% support for raising taxes on millionaires; and a YouGov poll of millionaires found that 6 in 10 millionaires support raising taxes on other millionaires!

“76% OF US WANT A HIGHER MINIMUM WAGE”

Source: Data For Progress (5.24.2023) — 76% of all voters support a $17 minimum wage (52% strongly, 24% somewhat) and the same poll found 74% also support a $20 minimum wage. A full 60% of Republicans support both.

“70% OF US SUPPORT LEGALIZING MARIJUANA”

Source: Gallup (11.08.2023) — “Seven in 10 Americans [70%] think marijuana use should be legal, the highest level yet after holding steady at 68% for three years.” Another poll, Pew (3.26.2024), found similar results with just 11% saying marijuana should be illegal.

“73% OF US WANT STUDENT LOAN DEBT RELIEF”

Source: SocialSphere (3.26.2024) — “Around 7 in 10 voters, 73%, believe the government should take some action on student loan debt, with 50% supporting partial or complete loan cancellation.” A recent FOX News poll found a similar number, 62% in favor of debt relief — 37% in favor of forgiving up to $20,000 in debt and another 25% in favor of forgiving all debt.

“65% OF US SUPPORT SCOTUS TERM LIMITS”

Source: UMass Amherst (6.16.2023) — “65% say the justices should serve a set number of terms.” A recent FOX News poll (7.16.2024) found even higher numbers: 81% in favor of a mandatory retirement age and 78% in favor of “limiting [U.S. Supreme Court justices] to an 18-year term.”

“84% OF US WANT FREE PRE-K AND 3-K”

Source: First Five Years Fund (1.29.2021) — This poll found 84% (including 73% of Republicans) in favor of providing preschool with “no cost to parents” for all three and four-year-olds.

“69% OF US SUPPORT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE”

Source: Gallup (5.23.2024) — When asked if same-sex marriage should be recognized as legal with the same rights as “traditional marriage,” 69% said YES. This number has been hovering around (or over) 70% since 2020.

“65% OF US WANT TO END THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE”

Source: Pew (9.25.2023) — By a nearly 2 to 1 margin — 65% to 33% — Americans want the popular vote to decide who is the President, NOT the Electoral College. In order to get around having to pass a Constitutional amendment to eliminate the Electoral College, over one-third of the states have already adopted the National Popular Vote bill. Once enough states holding a total of 270 electors pass the bill, those states will give all of their electors to the candidate who wins the national popular vote. To date, 17 states and the District of Columbia have passed the National Popular Vote bill. They have a total of 209 electors; that’s 77% of the 270 electors required to enact this law nationwide. (In other words, we are only a few states away from eliminating this shameful vestige that was placed in our Constitution to placate the slave states who were granted more electors because they promised to count their enslaved human beings as 3/5 of a human.)

“89% OF US OPPOSE GERRYMANDERING”

Source: RepresentUs (8.04.2021) — When asked “Do you support or oppose gerrymandering?”, after being given the definition that gerrymandering is when “voting districts are drawn to help one political party or certain politicians win an election” — a full 89% of Americans said they oppose gerrymandering, including 88% of Trump voters.

“70% OF US WANT A CEASEFIRE IN GAZA NOW”

Source: Data For Progress (5.08.2024) — “Seven in 10 likely voters — including majorities of Democrats (83%), Independents (65%), and Republicans (56%) — support the U.S. calling for a permanent ceasefire and a de-escalation of violence in Gaza.” A recent Pew Poll found that “a majority of Americans (53%) have little or no confidence in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do the right thing regarding world affairs, including 25% who have no confidence in him at all.” A recent Gallup poll found that 55% of Americans disapprove of Israel’s “military action” in Gaza and just 36% support it.

“72% OF US WANT MONEY OUT OF POLITICS”

Source: Pew (10.23.2023) — “Most Americans favor spending limits for political campaigns. Roughly seven-in-ten U.S. adults (72%) say that there should be limits on the amount of money individuals and organizations can spend on political campaigns.” Another Pew poll found that 62% of Americans believe that “reducing the influence of money in politics should be a top goal for the president and Congress.” In the last election cycle alone, the 2022 Midterms, outside donors spent a record-breaking $2 billion on federal midterm candidates, according to Open Secrets.

“70% OF MILLENNIALS SAY THEY’D LIKELY VOTE FOR A SOCIALIST”

Source: YouGov (10.28.2019) — Seventy percent of Millennials said they were “somewhat or extremely likely to vote for a socialist candidate.”

79% OF AMERICANS ARE WOMEN and/or YOUNG ADULTS (18-39 YEARS OLD) and/or PEOPLE OF COLOR — or some combination of these three demographics.

There’s no getting around it — these three groups of Americans — women, people of color and young adults together make up 79% of the country! They also form the base of the Democratic Party. And we probably don’t need to state what you already know from just living, working, going to school, having neighbors or strolling the aisles of Home Depot or your corner bodega — women are more liberal than men (51% lean Democratic vs 44% Republican), the young are more liberal than the old (62% lean Democratic vs 36% Republican), and Black and Brown people are way more liberal than white people (83% of Black voters, 63% of Asian voters, and 61% of Hispanic voters lean Democratic). And if they all vote, they can control everything from the White House to the County Drain Commissioner. The only reason they don’t already have this power is because of the Electoral College, gerrymandering and all sorts of voter suppression in the Red States. All of this must be ended.

Source: The U.S. Population is…

50.9% (51%) Female (Census Bureau)

42.3% People of Color (Kaiser Family Foundation [Based on Census Bureau figures])

29.8% (30%) 18-39 years old (NIH [Based on Census Bureau figures])

30% White Men (Guardian/Reflective Democracy Campaign)

Thus, to account for the overlap of people who fall into more than one of these demographics, and taking into account that the younger generations are more racially diverse...

51% (All Women) +21% (Men of Color) +7% (Young White Men)

= 79% OF AMERICANS ARE THE GROUP MADE UP OF WOMEN+YOUNG ADULTS (18-39-YEARS OLD)+PEOPLE OF COLOR

THE REPUBLICANS HAVE LOST THE POPULAR VOTE IN 7 OF THE LAST 8 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Source: NPR (11.25.2020) — “Democrats have now won the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. A Republican hasn't won it since George W. Bush's reelection in 2004.” Before that, the last time a Republican won the popular vote was nearly four decades ago, in 1988, when George's dad, George, defeated Dukakis.