" On the other hand, there are far more “Democrats” than there are self-proclaimed “liberals.” So Republicans are almost always better off downplaying their partisan affiliation and playing up their ideology, while Democrats are better off citing their party identity than they are their liberalism. The relative paucity of self-described “liberals” is one of the reasons George Lakoff and others have argued so strongly for the re-branding of “liberals” as “progressive.” “Progressive” not only lacks the negative baggage of “liberal,” but it also suggests “progress” and is therefore future-oriented. "

― , Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear