Left–right political spectrum
The terms left-wing and right-wing are widely used in the United States, but as on the global level there is no firm consensus about their meaning. The only aspect that is generally agreed upon is that they are the defining opposites of the United States political spectrum. Left and right in the U.S. are generally associated with liberal and conservative respectively, although the meanings of the two sets of terms do not entirely coincide. Depending on the political affiliation of the individual using them, these terms can be spoken with varying implications. A 2005 poll of 2,209 American adults showed that "respondents generally viewed the paired concepts liberals and left-wingers and conservatives and right-wingers as possessing, respectively, generally similar political beliefs", but also showed that around ten percent fewer respondents understood the terms left and right than understood the terms liberal and conservative.
Political positions of the Democratic Party
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. The party describes itself as supporting American liberalism and American progressivism. The party incorporates centrists liberals and progressives, as well as more left-wing or socialist movements, many aligned with the presidential campaign of independent Senator Bernie Sanders. There is also a small Conservative wing represented in the house by the Blue Dog Coalition, although Conservative Democrat ideology is different from the traditional Conservatism the Republican party supports. Policies of past Democratic platforms have sought to protect social programs, labor unions, consumer protection and workplace safety regulation, equal opportunity and racial equality, and regulation against pollution of the environment. Democrats support abortion rights and same-sex marriage, tend to support an easier pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.