Conservative Nation

Published Tuesday, August 18, 2009 A.D. | By Donald R. McClarey

2009 -08-04-consumer-confidence-better

Gallup is out with an interesting poll here showing that self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in all but three states, often by substantial margins. In three states, Hawaii, Vermont and Massachusetts, liberals and conservatives are tied. Liberals are only in a majority in the District of Columbia. The state by state results are here. As a conservative I would like to thank President Obama for his hard work in swelling the ranks of conservatives in time for next year’s elections.

6 Responses to Conservative Nation

John Henry says:

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 A.D. at 12:47pm

It’s certainly true that the number of people identifying as ‘conservative’ has gone up, but party affiliation (i.e. ‘Republican’ v. ‘Democrat’) is more instructive from my perspective – and tells a very different story about the relative strength of the parties. Measured by registered party affiliation, Democrats have a sizable advantage in 30 states; Republicans in 4.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/122003/Political-Party-Affiliation-States-Blue-Red-Far.aspx
Donald R. McClarey says:

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 A.D. at 12:51pm

Ah, John Henry, but it is the independents who usually determine the elections and in the latest polls their views are swinging strongly in a Republican way. As a conservative, I’ll take strength in ideological numbers over party id any day. We’ll see in 2010.
Dale Price says:

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 A.D. at 1:24pm

November 2010 is an eternity away, politically speaking.

Just as it was unwise to extrapolate permanent Republican and Democratic majorities based on the elections of 2002/2004 and 2006/2008 respectively, it’s too early to tell if this has some modest realignment potential or is just focused anger at a current set of policies.

A lot can happen in 14 months.
Blackadder says:

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 A.D. at 1:54pm

Self-described conservatives have outnumbered self-described liberals for decades, so that’s not really new. Registered Democrats have also traditionally tended to outnumber registered Republicans, though the gap did close briefly during the Bush years.

I suspect that the polling on conservatives vs. liberals paints an overly rosy picture (at least from a conservative perspective). People who hold stereotypically liberal views have a tendency to disclaim the liberal label (perhaps you’ve noticed this) which would tend to make the number of liberals appear lower in polling than is actually the case.
Donald R. McClarey says:

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 A.D. at 5:24pm

I doubt if we have to wait till 2010 on second thought. The Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections are usually fairly accurate bellweathers for the coming year, and those will occur in November of 2009.

If people aren’t going to self-identify as liberals now with liberals in complete control of the federal government they never will. I think Gallup is catching something here. I might also note that there are a fair number of self-described Democrats who haven’t voted for the party of the donkey in years. My mother-in-law is such a “Democrat”.
Donald R. McClarey says:

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 A.D. at 6:03pm

Per Rasmussen the Gop has led the Democrats now on the generic Congressional ballot for eight straight weeks.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/generic_congressional_ballot

This of course is very important because candidates are now being recruited and building up warchests.