Conservative, Liberal or Populist?

Rasmussen has a new poll out on public perceptions of those different terms:

If you’re a politician, don’t call yourself a populist. And liberal isn’t much better.

Populist is the least popular of five common political labels, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters. It’s more fashionable to be viewed as a conservative, less so to be called a progressive, the label adopted by many liberals.

Forty percent (40%) of U.S. voters view being described politically as a conservative as a positive description. That’s up eight points from last September and even up three from just after the November 2008 election. Sixteen percent (16%) say conservative is a negative description, and 43% put it somewhere in between negative and positive.

In distant second place in terms of popularity is the political description progressive. Twenty-two percent (22%) now view that as a positive description, but that’s a 10-point drop from September and down 18 points from November 2008. For 35%, progressive is a political negative, and 36% place it somewhere in between.

Eighteen percent (18%) of voters say being called a libertarian is a positive, but 31% view it as a negative description. Nearly half (47%) of voters rate it as somewhere in between.

For 14%, being described as a political liberal is a positive, but 39% see it as a negative and 45% think it’s somewhere in between.

And here's where it goes off the rails for politicians:

Forty-three percent (43%) of the Political Class view liberal as a positive description, while 44% of Mainstream voters see it as a negative. For 46% of Mainstream Americans, conservative is a positive, but almost half (48%) of Political Class voters rank it as a negative description.

The Political Class likes populist more than conservative or libertarian as a political term, but 41% of Mainstream voters see populist as a negative description.

Yes, Virginia, the political class is out-of-touch with the voters.