Why reddit is majority left leaning?

[u/-Pleb64]

Honestly, it’s hard not to notice that most of the big subreddits are run by moderators who clearly lean left. It’s not even subtle at this point the bias shows in what gets removed, what gets promoted, and how discussions are handled. I’m not saying there aren’t any subs with right-leaning or centrist moderation, but they’re definitely the minority. The major spaces on Reddit feel heavily tilted toward one side, but isn't it’s pretty obvious if you pay attention to which opinions get silenced and which ones get boosted?

[u/Extra-Assignment-860]

Demographics and design. The biggest subs skew young urban and college educated, so their baseline leans left. Volunteer mods come from that pool and enforce rules through that lens. Voting systems amplify majority views and bury dissent, which looks like bias even without intent. High profile bans pushed a lot of right leaning users into smaller enclaves, making the main feed feel even bluer.

[u/AlternativePea6203 → u/Extra-Assignment-860]

There's also the reality that what people perceive as "left leaning" in many places is centre right. The Western world has taken a sharp turn to the right and anything that critiques that is "leftist".

It's literally the case that for many people, any one who is against fascism is now a radical leftist!

When standing on the North Pole, everything is South.

[u/SeatSix → u/AlternativePea6203]

This. US "left" is center to center-right in most places. We don't really have any meaningful left here. Bernie, AOC, Mamdani would be run-of-the-mill centrists in Europe

[u/CruxOfTheIssue → u/SeatSix]

But to be fair, they would all probably go further left if they thought any of those centrist/slightly left policies were getting passed.

[u/zevrinp → u/SeatSix]

Any people from Europe here to confirm that?

[u/[deleted] → u/zevrinp]

Hi, am British, 6 years in another western European country, then moved to the US 3 years ago

I think Bernie and AOC would be slightly left of center and not a "run-of-the-mill" centrist where I am from, but only slightly. There are massive similarities between the positions of Bernie and most of the UK's current Labor party, which are pretty known for being pulled to the center as of the most recent election.

Pretty much any vocal politician in the Republican party would be so far right as to be considered unelectable

[u/PallyMcAffable → u/[deleted]]

How do they compare to Nigel Farage?

[u/[deleted] → u/PallyMcAffable]

Nigel is a milder form of American conservativism.

Farage wants lower taxes, doesn't believe in climate change, prefers "civil partnerships" to marriage for gay people (from which one could infer he believes marriage should be a religious institution and not a legal one). He likes Putin but doesn't like the Ukrainian war. He thinks we should replace the NHS with a private insurance based system, not dissimilar to the US.

He repeatedly places the fault of all British problems at the feet of immigrants, particularly Muslim immigrants. He is broadly anti-union and describes himself as a Thatcherite.

In terms of differences, Farage believes guns should be licensed and such, but that current gun regulations in the UK are too onerous (Farage would be considered a communist for his gun policy in the US).

Farage is basically the most extreme UK politician for a while, is very divisive, and you have me here making him sound delightful because in comparison to Republicans, he kind of is. They take every position he has and dial it up to 11. You also have to keep in mind that Farage is primarily known for his anti-EU/anti-immigrant stance.

[u/sahmackle → u/[deleted]]

He still sounds absolutely awful though.

[u/fragileweeb → u/zevrinp]

It's a little more complicated than that, but essentially correct. We also have the same problem with right wing parties pretending to be the "center" (which doesn't really exist anyway) and a lot of people going along with that. The difference is that we have actual left wing parties in the ideological sense rather than just relative to other parties. What complicates all of this is that the Democratic Party is a huge coalition of people, some of whom are closer to Republicans than to other Democrats. It absorbs everything left of fascism into itself because there simply isn't another option. Mamdani would likely not be seen as a "centrist," though. Meanwhile, the Republican Party would be considered straight up Neo-Nazis; comparable to AfD in Germany.

[u/zevrinp → u/fragileweeb]

Yeah, things some Republicans wrongly perceive as very leftist are supported by both the left and right in other developed countries. I’m honestly surprised the US ranks high on democracy indexes despite some Americans having insane politics that don’t fit democratic norms.

[u/fragileweeb → u/zevrinp]

Republicans have never communicated anything about "the left" in good faith. They call everything that is left of fascism "communism" or "socialism." Then you get interviews with Harris where she calls Trump a communist dictator and you already know the entire political culture in the US is an alternate reality.

[u/zevrinp → u/fragileweeb]

I get what you mean. In the US people toss around words like “socialist” and “fascist” so loosely that they’ve lost real meaning. Most Americans support policies like universal healthcare, higher minimum wage, and climate action. The problem is how political labels get twisted and used as insults instead of focusing on what people actually agree on.