According to a Gallup poll conservatives now outnumber liberals in all states:
In 2009, 40% percent of respondents in Gallup surveys that have interviewed more than 160,000 Americans have said that they are either “conservative” (31%) or “very conservative” (9%). That is the highest percentage in any year since 2004.
Only 21% have told Gallup they are liberal, including 16% who say they are “liberal” and 5% who say they are “very liberal.”
The catch is in the next piece of data:
Thirty-five percent of Americans say they are moderate.
If you don’t say you are conservative, you are liberal. End of story. There are no moderates. Oh… some will claim that, but dig deep and they are liberal. Being moderate makes no intellectual sense, unless your goal is to be mushy.
That said, this poll does bode somewhat well for the future of the Republic should said Republic survive Obama. He, and the Democrats, have long known their bleak demographic destiny. I believe that is why they are pressing so hard now. Their temporary majority has an expiration date, but government programs defy demographics.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
“There are no moderates.” Who is not with me is against me!
The rest of the piece is spin.
Sure, those people say they are conservative, but you are equating their conservatism with the nutty conservatives of the present Republican Party. Your target audience should be those conservatives looking for a sensible party. Unfortunately, ranting will turn a lot of them away to continue looking (for those who care about party at all). If you want a majority, you need a much bigger tent.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Your comment is the “spin”. “nutty”. “tent” all based on a NON-DATA based view that people who say they are conservative aren’t. For a fellow who “wants the data”… gosh, I hate to ask for consistency.
As to my view of moderates, it is based on “logic”. No political philosophy I’m aware of leads to “moderate”.
Think it through… how is “moderate” a platform? What rationale leads to “moderate”? None. Those who claim moderate are broken into a small conservative/libertarian group with the rest (most) being liberals that don’t want to admit it, or that live in media restricted environments (D.C, NY) and don’t know they are liberal. The operative reason is that a large % of liberals know their views are unpopular and discredited and don’t want to admit it.