> ... universal health care, how strongly they are in favor of nuclear disarmament, gun control, etc
As I understand it, US Democrats are keen on those three, and in Australia, we've already embraced all of those.
Are you suggesting there's a policy mis-match, or that one of the two groups leans even more strongly towards these principles than the other group?
Either way, I'm not sure how this strongly differentiates them.
> ... the US itself has been pushed further to the right by a conservative dominated supreme court.
The USA's supreme court arrangement is indeed a curious artefact, for those of us outside its domain.
AFAICT it's been 'pushed' in one direction by political appointees in the previous presidents' term.