A rose by any other name, but the name "progressive" apparently plays pretty well, according to a recent Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey.
The term "progressive" apparently gets a very high 67% approval rating - higher than "conservative" (62%), and much, much higher than "liberal" (39%). This study confirms, well, my own gut feeling - that it is a more popular choice to refer to oneself as a progressive than a liberal. More importantly, a surprising number of Independents (68%) view the term positively, and even more surprising, 55% of self-identified Republicans approve of the term.
For one who is preoccupied with the power of wordsmithing, it occurs to me that we can take this information and march into war with it. I'm happy, these days, to say that "conservatives" aren't conservative - as a matter of fact, they're extremists. While this sentiment can have the desired effect of sullying the glory of the term "conservative" if repeated often enough, it's pretty difficult to similarly damage the highly regarded "progressive" moniker.
As well - for myself at least - it's going to be "progressive" over "liberal" from now on.