[joshagogo]

From the article: ...researchers asked the participants to rank their own Political Orientation on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is extremely conservative and 7 is extremely liberal. That means that if the average participant had come out to 4.0, it would indicate a perfect balance on liberal vs conservative sentiment. This group came out to 4.7, which is close to balanced, showing a slight liberal bent, much like the general population.

[xname2]

My explanation: self-identification is not accurate in political orientation. Many thinks they are moderate left, but actually are far left.