Nine years ago the word liberal was in general disrepute. Thanks to the crackerjack blogging of DD, Cassandra, Pandora, El Somnabulo, Liberalgeek, Nemski, XStryker, Unstable Isotope, Donviti, and ProgressivePopulist the word liberal is storming back.
The shift toward greater liberal self-identification has been led by Democrats. Currently, 43% of Democrats say they are liberal, a nearly 50% increase from 29% in 2000. Over the same period, the percentage of Democrats identifying as moderate is down to 36% from 44%, and conservative identification is down to 19% from 25%.
U.S. Political Ideology — Recent Trend Among Democrats
Of course, the general shit-ass loser “moderate” Dems who continue to drag the Democratic Party through the street like she was a $2.00 whore have probably contributed to the shift.