Political moderate

Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American politics, a moderate is considered someone occupying a centre position on the left–right political spectrum.

Political position

Further information: Centrism

In recent years, the term political moderates has gained traction as a buzzword. The existence of the ideal moderate is disputed because of a lack of a moderate political ideology. Voters who describe themselves as centrist often mean that they are moderate in their political views, advocating neither extreme left-wing nor right-wing politics.

Gallup polling indicated that American voters identified as moderate between 35–38% of the time during the 1990s and 2000s. Voters may identify with moderation for a number of reasons: pragmatic, ideological, or otherwise. It has also been suggested that individuals vote for centrist parties for purely statistical reasons.

Religious position

In religion, the moderate position is centered and opposed to liberalism or conservatism.

For Christianity, moderates in evangelicalism would oppose the ideas of Christian right and Christian fundamentalism, may be for or against same-sex marriage but oppose discrimination based on sexual orientation, as well as liberal Christians and the Christian left. For Islam, moderates oppose the extreme views of Islamic extremism and Islamic fundamentalism.

See also

• Centrism
• Centre-left politics
• Centre-right politics
• Independent voter
• Moderate Democrats
• Moderate Islam
• Moderate Party (disambiguation)
• Moderate Republican
• Radical centrism
• The Establishment

References

• Calhoon, Robert McCluer (2008), Ideology and social psychology: extremism, moderation, and contradiction, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-73416-5