Yes, the reality of politics is that they are highly multipolar. The political compass is useful, but maintaining only two axes is wildly simplistic.
Moral Foundations Theory suggests there are five axes for political views. I think this theory is one of the best for explanatory power, but is still limited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_foundations_theory
Suffices to say, if we look at politics through a two party, first past the post framework, I still think small letter conservatism vs liberalism is the best frame, simply because it is vague enough to be used generally.
In American english it does.
> when one fails, it is often abandoned by the left
Rent control has never worked out (it results in a housing shortage), but proposals for more rent control constantly flow from the left.
Associating a political coalition with their most extreme or noisy members is counterproductive. When looking for what a coalition stands for, it's better to look at the coalition member who are most productive with legislation in places they have control.
Statewide rent control was recently enacted by Oregon and Washington. It's also statewide in California. Not coincidentally, all three have Democrats completely controlling the governorship and legislature.
Here's the DNC official platform:
https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2024-Democr...
I'd appreciate it if you found any free market proposals in it (I didn't read the whole thing).
I did notice the advocacy of rent control: "the Administration has eased rising rents by capping rent hikes in 2 million federally-funded apartments."
and
"It offers corporate landlords a basic choice for the next two years: either cap rent increases at 5 percent, or lose a valuable federal tax break."
and
"the Administration is going after unfair rental “junk fees,” like fees people are charged just to pay rent online or to receive sorted mail. And, we will crack down on corporate landlords who are gouging tenants, for example by capping the amount they can raise the rent each year"