Clinton’s Centrist Path: Big Draw Among Party Faithful

Moderate suburbanites and voters optimistic about the technology-based economy have replaced traditional liberals as the backbone of the Democratic Party’s political coalition, according to a survey released Wednesday by President Clinton’s pollster.

The national survey also found overwhelming support among Democrats--and the public at large--for the balanced-budget agreement Clinton signed into law earlier this week. That finding illustrates the party’s evolving nature, given that the accord has been attacked by some Democratic liberals in Congress, led by House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.).

The survey also found broad support among Democrats for Clinton’s argument that government should focus on expanding opportunity rather than the historic liberal priorities of strengthening the social safety net or redistributing income.

“The Democratic Party is being brought together around the center,” said pollster Mark Penn. He conducted the survey for the Democratic Leadership Council, a group that long has sought to steer the party toward the middle and that Clinton once headed.

Still, the poll recorded intense ambivalence among both Democrats and the public at large on the major issue looming on Washington’s fall agenda: Clinton’s drive to win expedited authority from Congress to let him negotiate free-trade agreements.

When told that previous presidents had been granted such “fast-track” authority, a majority of those surveyed--and fully two-thirds of Democrats--said that Congress should also provide it for Clinton. But Americans also displayed strong sympathy for many of the arguments free-trade skeptics will marshall against Clinton when Congress confronts the issue.

In particular, 51% of those polled said the integration of the global economy primarily “benefits multinational corporations at the expense of working families,” while only 41% said globalization created “exciting new economic opportunities.”

Overall, the poll found Clinton riding a wave of good feeling about the economy and his job performance. His approval rating stood at 62%, among the highest of his presidency.

Correlating attitudes on dozens of policy questions, Penn said the Democratic Party is now composed of five distinct groups. The two largest (at 28% of the party each) are dubbed “New Economy Democrats” who tend to be male, computer-literate, economically optimistic and supportive of free trade; and “Suburban Values Democrats” who tend to be female and are focused on social issues such as education and crime.

Those two groups, Penn said, significantly outnumber “Economic Liberals” and “Pro-Government Democrats” who take more traditional liberal positions and now comprise only 25% of the Democratic base combined. The final 20% of Democrats tend to be less-affluent social conservatives who also support a strong government safety net.