Who's more extreme in America today?

The centrist dead zone, the left keeps moving left, leaving the door open to a Congressional bid in 2030, X is not real life, the "mansplaining" every pollster knows, something I never realized

No. 390 | February 2, 2026

↔️ Who do voters see as extreme—or in the middle?

The perceived ideology of politicians is always a fascinating question, with Donald Trump seen as more moderate than his Democratic rivals in each of his winning presidential campaigns. But recent YouGov data has Trump viewed as the most polarizing figure in America, with 50 percent calling him far-right, more than the 42 percent who call Bernie Sanders far-left.

Some interesting characteristics of this data beyond just the individual data points: First, party leaders pay an extremism penalty. They tend to be viewed as more extreme than if they were a backbencher with the same political positions. And second, the center is an exceptionally unstable place. Only a handful of politicians are genuinely perceived as centrists. And that’s usually because they’ve fallen dramatically out of favor with the bases of their own party (Liz Cheney, Andrew Cuomo), rendering them unable to win a primary election and thus electe…