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defrogThis article is a bit old (June 2015), but it’s worth reading:
A couple of polls earlier this year suggested that the number of self-declared conservatives in America has been declining since 2010, from 39% then to 33% now. But according to FiveThirtyEight, data from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s regular polls on opinions about healthcare (which has a larger sample base and dates back to 2007) indicates that the number of conservatives has been relatively static (around 35%).
Meanwhile, the number of self-identified liberals has gone up in the same time period to around 25%. That seems to be coming at the expense of moderate Democrats who are moving more to the left.
What that means, says Harry Enten, is this:
Put another way, it shows that both parties are bring increasingly defined by ideology more than ever before (which may be news to young people, but some of us are old enough to remember when there actually was such as thing as liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats, and neither were considered heresy like they are now). Which in turn could mean even less room for compromise between both parties down the road. That happens when you govern by ideology. And that’s not necessarily a good thing.
One interesting caveat in the footnotes: support for conservative stances on social issues (like gay marriage and marijuana legalization) has declined significantly in recent years. So while there may be a lot of self-described “conservatives”, that doesn’t indicate proportionate support on every plank of the GOP platform.
Pick a side,
This is dF
A couple of polls earlier this year suggested that the number of self-declared conservatives in America has been declining since 2010, from 39% then to 33% now. But according to FiveThirtyEight, data from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s regular polls on opinions about healthcare (which has a larger sample base and dates back to 2007) indicates that the number of conservatives has been relatively static (around 35%).
Meanwhile, the number of self-identified liberals has gone up in the same time period to around 25%. That seems to be coming at the expense of moderate Democrats who are moving more to the left.
What that means, says Harry Enten, is this:
Perhaps most importantly, the reason that liberal identification has been up according to Gallup is because of Democrats. The Democratic base is more liberal, but there has been zero movement toward liberalism among independents or Republicans. In other words, the left is more liberal, but the median voter is not.
The higher percentage of liberals isn’t likely to lead to some sort of liberal revolution. Instead, the real story is a familiar one: The U.S. is becoming more polarized, with more and more Democrats identifying as liberal and more and more Republicans identifying as conservative.
The higher percentage of liberals isn’t likely to lead to some sort of liberal revolution. Instead, the real story is a familiar one: The U.S. is becoming more polarized, with more and more Democrats identifying as liberal and more and more Republicans identifying as conservative.
Put another way, it shows that both parties are bring increasingly defined by ideology more than ever before (which may be news to young people, but some of us are old enough to remember when there actually was such as thing as liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats, and neither were considered heresy like they are now). Which in turn could mean even less room for compromise between both parties down the road. That happens when you govern by ideology. And that’s not necessarily a good thing.
One interesting caveat in the footnotes: support for conservative stances on social issues (like gay marriage and marijuana legalization) has declined significantly in recent years. So while there may be a lot of self-described “conservatives”, that doesn’t indicate proportionate support on every plank of the GOP platform.
Pick a side,
This is dF
