Democrats want their party leadership to move in a more moderate direction, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted after the midterm elections.
The poll found that a majority (52 percent) of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents want their party to move in a more moderate direction. Just 41 percent want the party to move in a more liberal direction.
In contrast, a majority (57 percent) of Republicans and Republican leaning independents want their party’s leaders to move in a more conservative direction.
According to Pew:
To some extent these differences between the two parties are the result of compositional differences: While 58 percent of Republicans and Republican leaners identify as conservative, only about four-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners (42 percent) identify as liberal.
Additionally, while about three-quarters (77 percent) of conservative Republicans and GOP leaners say they’d like to see the party become more conservative, a smaller majority (60 percent) of liberal Democrats and Democratic leaners say their party should shift to the left. Still, the share of liberal Democrats and Democratic leaning independents who want to see their party move in a more liberal direction has slightly increased from four years ago, from 50 percent to 60 percent.