Since liberals and/or dems haven't spent the past few decades trying to make "conservative" a dirty word it's no surprise that a lot of people might call themselves conservative. But what does that mean, exactly? Positions on issues matters a whole lot more than what label people might use to correctly or incorrectly identify themselves.

Very good point Zoe. I would also point out that I could give two shits about how people describe themselves. The most important question is: how many of these "conservatives" actually even vote ?

As zoe notes, show us positions on issues. (Anecdotal evidence alert) I personally know at least 10 self-described "conservatives" whose views on issues from the environment and health care to reproductive choice and taxation exactly mirror mine.

Then again, as we saw a week or so ago, both Colin Powell and Rush Limbaugh identify themselves as "conservative".

Key stat here: cons lead 3-1 in the 65 + group. I expect their numbers to dwindle at about the same rate that these people die off.

There's also the problem of geography. A liberal in a southern state such as AL likely looks very different from a liberal in a state like MA. As do self-identified conservatives -- a VT conservative likely shares less in common with a conservative from Texas. A lot of self-identification comes from how you relate yourself to those around you, not by how you actually vote.

Hah! An easy one, as Zoe points out. Being a "liberal" gets you labeled as a lazy hippie crackpot wimpy do-gooder. So you call yourself a conservative if, you know, you don't smoke pot in public or howl to uncage the zoo animals, if you swear and tell ethnic jokes, and your biggest worry is balancing your check book every month.

The number of people who are really conservative, as conservatives understand it, is pretty low. How much of the population actually wants to outlaw "the Pill", legalize guns in bars and schools, think all foreigners are our enemies, and think women should be forced to give birth even if the process is going to kill them?

I wonder how much of this "conservatism" has to do with an uppity black president?

Yes, actions do speak far louder - Strange after all of the hoopla beginning very late one Tuesday evening, last November, that this "Liberal" and "Far Left" takeover, as described by those on the right, has led to many questioning if the Democratic Senate can even muster 50 votes to pass needed health care changes. In actions alone, the list for Liberal Democratic Senators is extremely short.

I'm more inclined to believe this poll simply indicates that a large chunk of the American public has no idea what the words 'conservative' or 'liberal' actually mean.

I know many people who describe themselves as conservatives when they are simply fiscal conservatives and relatively liberal on social issues. That divide is not uncommon.

If both liberal and conservative numbers increased by 4% over the same period how do they say there's been any change in their fortunes?

It looks more like 8% of the people have become more polarized.

And if that's accurate and 61% of the people have nothing in common, no idea of the past, no idea of the future, no idea of the present,

why try to force them together?

Yes I am conservative (a person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc.) AND an unrepentant Democrat. I do not find this strange. I also believe in God and Darwin. Quit trying to box us in or treat us like freaks. Whoever said 'fiscally conservative and socially liberal' hit it on the head. I believe a LOT of people describe themselves that way.

Let's put this 'center-right nation' business to rest, already. It's entirely absurd.

It's impossible for any country, as a whole, to be anything other than centrist. After all, centrist is best defined as holding beliefs in the center of a country's political spectrum. To say that the US is a center-right country would mean that it was to its own right; an absurd concept.

Now, if you want to compare the US to Europe, there's no contest. Even a raging Tory in the UK would be pilloried as a pinko commie fellow traveler in the US (hyperbole... work w/me). But, by the same token, even a US conservative is wildly to the left of our best buddies in Wahabbist Saudi Arabia.

-Z

This whole poll is almost irrelevant as represented by election results: all these terms have had major changes in definition over the past century and are so flung about that any real consistancy in definition is impossible -- under/over defined words as Korzybski would say.

Better to define a set of "conservative" policies and "liberal" policies and go from there.

i think there's a problem here with the conclusions drawn.

people were asked to identify as conservative, moderate or liberal, not republican/democrat, left or right.

it cannot be concluded that everyone answering "conservative" means to indicate that they are a republican. there are conservative democrats as well, just as there are liberal and moderate republicans.

so, imho, this poll does not suggest that republican identification or conservative republican identification is on the rise. all it shows is that people are feeling conservative in an uncertain world.

Whenever I get into a discussion about conservatism, self-described conservatives can never give a good answer to one simple question: What *is* conservatism?

They'll give a lot of vague answers about freedom, responsibility, and limited government. But then they always get lost when I point out that I, by any definition a liberal, completely agree with about 99% of what they say.

I think doubtful @ 3:54 is absolutely correct. The vast majority of Americans have no meaningful idea of what liberal or conservative really mean.

Conservatives at 40% may outnumber liberals OR moderates but they do not outnumber liberals AND moderates (together). That is a crucial point. Independents (which aren't the same as moderates) vote more with liberals, which is how the Dems have been winning.

Although I agree probably 50-60% of the people don't really know what liberal and conservative mean.

Those results contradict IIRC a poll and chart you (?) and others had up several weeks ago. I thought it showed fewer conservatives than liberals, but maybe it was about Democrat v. Republican? Anyway, some of these pollsters have an agenda.

"even a US conservative is wildly to the left of our best buddies in Wahabbist Saudi Arabia."

I'm not so convinced of that when I read the latest babblings from the spittle-flecked lips of Glenn Beck and Michael Savage.

Can't believe the assumption they jump to because during the campaign voters were polled on all the major issues and it was determined then that most of America was liberal as far as how they voted on the issues...but the right has so demonized the word that calling oneself liberal suddenly became demeaning.

Rather than "liberal" the question should have asked if voters referred to themselves as "progressives" or "neocons". Guess who would have dominated the answer then? It's a slanted survey by today's standards.

The REAL question is whether the GOP is conservative or right-wing radical. I would argue the latter.

I put this in the same category as the Gallop poll that shoes the majority of Americans are "pro-life" -- AND believe that abortions should be legal.

Clearly, the labels don't have the same meaning to the partisans and the general public.

Many factors to consider, including the difference between how you see yourself and how others see you. Back in (commie) Poland, I thought of myself as "pragmatic, bordering on conservative". But the party hacks said I was "conservative, bordering on reactionary".

Once I arrived in US and took the general "temperature" of the state of politics, I began to think of myself as "moderate, bordering on liberal". However... If you were to ask my husband, he'd probably tell you I was "a flaming commie", while *he* is a "moderate Democrat".

This continued claim by the right wing that America is a "center-right" nation is a huge laugh. The right wing has been purging centrists from the GOP for years, and those who haven't been forced out have left voluntarily. By contrast, the Democratic party has embraced centrists, to the point where they now outnumber liberals in the party. Given that it's the Democrats who are in power, and the centrists caucus with them, not the GOP, this country should more properly be called center-left.

Maybe the poll/focus group should ask conservatives what it means to be "conservative"? And liberals what it means to be "liberal"?

Might be enlightening.

You bet I'm conservative!

Yep, that's the ticket!

Fiscal conservatism needs must follow profligacy as the night the day.

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