The New American Center

In its November 2013 issue, Esquire published a feature called "The New American Center," which provided an in-depth look into a survey it commissioned together with NBC (the survey was conducted by "Benenson Strategy Group, President Obama's pollster, and Neil Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies, who conducted the polls for Governor Romney").

The feature provides a lot of really interesting information about the political, social, and other attitudes — as well as demographics — of those in the "center" of the American political spectrum. What I found unique about the survey was that the pollsters identified eight distinct ideological groups, with the "bleeding hearts" being furthest left, and the "talk radio heads" being furthest right, and four of the eight groups comprising the center. While the media frequently reduces ideology to conservative or liberal (or at best, adds distinctions of financially or socially conservative/liberal) Esquire & NBC paint a much more nuanced and revealing picture of public attitudes.

Also, you can find out your own ideological group by taking the poll yourself on the Esquire link above.