Maybe some of you have seen this already, but Media Matters and the Campaign for America’s Future lay it all out…

Here’s the Executive Summary of their joint report…

Conventional wisdom says that the American public is fundamentally conservative - hostile to government, in favor of unregulated markets, at peace with inequality, wanting a foreign policy based on the projection of military power, and traditional in its social values.

But as this report demonstrates, that picture is fundamentally false. Media perceptions and past Republican electoral successes notwithstanding, Americans are progressive across a wide range of controversial issues, and they’re growing more progressive all the time.

This report gathers together years of public opinion data from unimpeachably nonpartisan sources to show that on issue after issue, the majority of Americans hold progressive positions. And this is true not only of specific policy proposals, but of the fundamental perspectives and approaches that Americans bring to bear on issues.

Nor is the progressive majority merely a product of the current political moment. On a broad array of issues, particularly social issues, American opinion has grown more and more progressive over the past few decades. In contrast, it is difficult to find an issue on which the public has grown steadily more conservative over the last 10, 20, or 30 years.

The issues covered in this report include the following:

• The role of government - Americans support an active government that tackles problems, provides services, and aids those in need.
• The economy - Americans support increasing the minimum wage and strong unions, and believe the wealthy and corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
• Social issues - Americans support legal abortion and embryonic stem cell research; opinions on equal rights for women and gay Americans have grown dramatically more progressive in recent years.
• Security - Americans support a progressive approach to national security, emphasizing strong alliances and diplomacy over the indiscriminate use of military force. On domestic security issues, progressive approaches to crime and gun control enjoy wide support.
• The environment - By enormous margins, Americans favor strong environmental protections, a core progressive belief.
• Energy - Americans support energy conservation and the development of alternative fuels.
• Health care - Americans clearly favor universal coverage and are more than comfortable with government solutions to the health care problem.

In short, a look across the scope of American public opinion reveals a public that holds progressive positions and supports progressive solutions on economic issues, on social issues, on security issues - indeed, on nearly all the key issues confronting the country. For years, the conventional wisdom has maintained just the opposite, but the facts are impossible to ignore.

For the full PDF, go here. But, here’s some of the detail…

• The role of government — 69 percent of Americans believe the government "should care for those who can’t care for themselves;" twice as many people (43 percent vs. 20 percent) want "government to provide many more services even if it means an increase in spending" as wanted government to provide fewer services "in order to reduce spending."
• The economy — 77 percent of Americans think Congress should increase the minimum wage; 66 percent believe "upper-income people" pay too little in taxes; 53 percent feel the Bush tax cuts have failed because they have increased the deficit and caused cuts in government programs.
• Social issues — 61 percent of Americans support embryonic stem cell research; 62 percent want to protect Roe v. Wade; only 3 percent of Americans rank gay marriage as the "most important" social issue.
• Security — 43 percent of Americans say we are spending too much on our military; 60 percent feel the federal government should do more about restricting the kinds of guns that people can purchase.

» Read the Report and Spread the Word!

• The environment — 75 percent of Americans would be wiling to pay more for electricity if it were generated by renewable sources to help reduce global warming; 79 percent want higher emissions standards for automobiles.
• Energy — 52 percent of Americans believe "the best way for the U.S. to reduce its reliance on foreign oil" is to "have the government invest in alternative energy sources;" 68 percent of the public thinks U.S. energy policy is better solved by conservation than production.
• Immigration — 57 percent of Americans feel "most recent immigrants to the U.S. contribute to this country" rather than "cause problems." 67 percent of Americans feel that "on the whole" immigration is a "good thing for this country today."
• Health care - 69 percent of Americans think it is the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans have access to health coverage; 76 percent find access to health care more important than maintaining the Bush tax cuts; three in five would be willing to have their own taxes increased to achieve universal coverage.