Let me ask you all a question about your Progressive and Conservative friends

[ThomWV]

I'm not asking about your Republican friends, if indeed you have any. Of your Democratic friends, as a percentage, how many do you consider to be Progressives?

When I think about the circle of Democratic friends my wife and I share easily 95% of them are what I would call progressives, and the remainder are certainly moderates at worst.

How about you, what percent of your friends are Progressives? I ask because I simply can not believe we are just a sliver of the Party, in fact I think we are the majority of the Party despite rumor to the contrary.

[cali]

1. all of my friends, but it's a self-selected group

I don't think it shows anything. And sorry, I don't think we're the majority of the party. We're a significant part of it, but I doubt we're the majority.

[chandler2]

2. Most AMERICANS have progressive views, but don't identify

themselves as being a Progressive Democrat.

[quiller4]

3. Of my Democratic friends I would say 10-15% are progressives.

Another 10% are conservative on at least some issues. The majority are mainstream Democrats. Most of our friends are 55 or older. At least 1/3 of the males are Vietnam era vets and most have a union background. My husband is a retired Teamster. My brother-in-law is a working Teamster.

[Richardo]

4. That may be, but anecdotal self-reporting from members of a Democratic message board...

...is not the way to verify that.

[ThomWV]

6. I did sort of triple-bad the question, didn't I?

Yeah, I know, there's nothing valid about it but in these days of illusion who am I to be bothered by that?

You could on one hand say that the question asks what portion of the Democratic base is progressive, but on the other hand it asks how selective are you in picking your friends.

See, and you thought I didn't know the difference. :~)

[Richardo]

15. :^D

:)

[Tailormyst]

5. Probably 75%

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

7. I may have more conservative friends than democrats (much less, liberal dems).

I would say under 15% of the people I'm friwends with with are "progressive".
Maybe about 45% of them are "republican" or certainly right of center.
15% aren't repulican, bur aren't democrat - they vary based on the issues.
The remaining 35% or thereabouts are "deomocrats", but more centrist or DLC.

I'm an equal opportunity friender. :D
Also, I'm an engineer and gun nut... I think that mostly explains it.

[RoseMead]

8. My friends are almost evenly split between Dems and Repubs

at least, that's how it shows up on Facebook. It probably has a lot to do with the area in which I live; Huntington is a pretty conservative area, apparently. My very close friends are almost all Progressives, but they only number a handful or so.

Alas, even though I wish it were otherwise, I don't believe that Progressives make up the majority of the Democratic Party. I also think Progressives in general are a minority in the nation as a whole, to our detriment.

[kctim]

9. Hard to say really

I don't know any person who is totally progressive. A few hold progressive ideas on a few issues, but are pretty level on most issues.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. About 90%

[SemiCharmedQuark]

11. My entire family is Democratic, but I suppose they would be considered "mainstream" Democrats.

Most of my friends consider themselves to be Progressives--but that's not really a good sample. I choose the people that I hang out with. I wouldn't hang out with a conservative.

[SIMPLYB1980]

12. 50% according to Facebook,

but not all of those people are really my friends. A lot of them are conservatives I went to high school with.

[Ozymanithrax]

13. Progressive is thrown around a lot. Can you give a quick definition of progressive?

This is close to how I define Progressivism, from wikipedia...

Progressivism is a political and social term for ideologies and movements favoring or advocating changes or reform, usually in an egalitarian direction for economic policies (public management) and liberal direction for social policies (personal choice).

While Liberal is defined (Answers.com and elsewhere...)

A political theory founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority. Liberalism a political orientation that favors social progress by reform and by changing laws rather than by revolution

I consider myself a progressive and a liberal by the above definitions. I find that what separates or unites me from other progressives here at DU are issues upon which we agree or disagree. So, how do you define progressives? What issues, if any, would exclude people from your definition of progressive?

[Forkboy]

14. Most of my friends are apolitical, but lean well to the left in most areas of discussion.

I don't think they would even bother trying to identify themselves with any label though. Just not their style (and barely mine). Though they might accept "cynic". I would.

[Greyhound]

16. It al comes down to terminology and the demonization of those terms.

While very few will identify themselves as liberal or progressive when asked to affiliate themselves, a solid majority of Americans do hold "liberal or progressive" values.

That said, most of my Democratic friends are not committed to anything that might cost or inconvenience them. But, I do live in red-state hell.