Survey Paints Portrait of Dean Supporters (washingtonpost.com)

Some surprises here. We knew the Deaniacs were very liberal, but the results of this survey, which includes a large number of respondents thus a high degree of accuracy, suggest that Dean and his followers will try to lead the Democrats even further to the left. If this happens, the strategy will fail. Mainstream America will not embrace these values. Given his beliefs and the elitist profile of his supporters, I think Dr. Dean has a 'Sisyphean task' ahead trying to unite the Democrats. Winning elections will be fantasty.

"More than four in five (82 percent) of Dean activists in the study identified themselves as liberals, compared with 27 percent of all Democrats nationally. Asked what drew them to Dean, 66 percent cited the war in Iraq, and 99 percent of the Dean followers said Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq was wrong. On the issue of gay rights, 91 percent of Dean activists said they favor same-sex marriages, compared with 38 percent of Democrats nationally.

In a party that includes substantial numbers of blacks and Hispanics, the Dean Democrats are overwhelmingly white -- 92 percent, according to the survey -- and constitute what could be described as part of the American elite. More than half (54 percent) hold post-graduate degrees and a quarter have graduated from college. Almost one in three (29 percent) have household incomes of more than $100,000 annually.

One in three of the Dean activists said they never attend church, and 27 percent said they seldom do so. Those rates of religious participation are far lower than that of Democrats generally. More than half of all Democrats say they attend church at least once a month."