In early October 2015 we wrote about an academic study showing Democrats Moving Left Faster Than Republicans Moving Right:

The meme we’ve been hearing for years is that radical right-wing “hard liners” are hijacking the Republican party and forcing it to the right; however, an interesting new study argues that Democrats are moving more quickly to the left than Republicans are moving to the right. It also indicates that the Democrats’ move leftward has had the unintended consequence of moving state legislatures to the right.

A Gallup survey released today confirms that Democrats are moving left

Democrats’ desire for a “liberal” or “very liberal” candidate has grown, from 30% in 2007 to 36% now. However, the largest share of Democrats and Democratic leaners — 40% — still mostly prefer a moderate candidate. This desire has shrunk somewhat from 48% in 2007.

Because of these shifts, Democrats are now about as likely to say they prefer a liberal nominee (36%) as a moderate nominee (40%), while in 2007, they had a clearer preference for a moderate (48%) than for a liberal (30%)….

The increased desire for a liberal candidate is consistent with the increase in liberal views among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents on social and economic issues.