Political ideologies in the United States
Encyclopedia
Political ideologies in the United States vary considerably. Persons in the U.S. generally classify themselves either as adhering to positions along the political spectrum
as liberal-progressive
, moderate, or conservative. American liberalism aims at the preservation and extension of human, social and civil rights
as well as the government guaranteed provision of positive rights. It combines social progressivism and to some extent, ordoliberalism
and is highly similar to European social liberalism
of parties like the British
Liberal Democrats
, Dutch
Democrats 66
and Belgian
Flemish Liberals and Democrats
. American conservatism commonly refers to a combination of economic liberalism
and social conservatism
and to an extent, libertarianism
. It aims at protecting traditional values (especially on social issues) while promoting the concept of small government
.
The ideological position a person or party takes may be described in terms of social and economic policy. The ideological positions a person assumes on social and economic policy issues may differ in their position on the political spectrum. Milton Friedman
, for example, was left-of-center on social issues but right-of-center on fiscal matters. Several ideological demographics may be identified in addition to or as subgroups of liberals and conservatives with nearly every possible ideology being found in the general population.
In the U.S., the Democratic Party
generally represents liberal ideals, while the Republican Party
commonly represents conservative ideals. Smaller parties such as the Libertarian Party
play a minor role in American politics.
The size of ideological groups varies slightly depending on the poll. Gallup/USA Today polling in June 2010 revealed that 42% of those surveyed identify as conservative, 35% as moderate, while 20% identify as liberal. In another polling in June 2010, 40% of American voters identify themselves as conservatives, 36% as moderates and 22% as liberals, with a strong majority of both liberals and conservatives describing themselves as closer to the center than to the extremes. In a 2005 study, the Pew Research Center
identified nine typological groups. Three groups were identified as part of each, "the left," "the middle," and "the right." In this categorization system, "the right" roughly represents the Republican base, those on "the left" the Democratic base and those in "the middle" independents. Within the left are the largely secular and anti-war "Liberals", the socially conservative but economically left "Conservative Democrats", and the economically "Disadvantaged Democrats" who favor an extended welfare state. In "the middle" are the optimistic and upwardly mobile "Upbeats", the discouraged and mistrusting "Disaffecteds," and the disenfranchised "Bystanders." The right compromises the highly pro-business "Enterprisers," the highly religious "Social Conservatives" (also known as the Christian right
), and the "Pro-Government Conservatives" who are largely conservative on social issues but support government intervention to better their economic disposition.
|-
!The Right||Persons (%)||Voters (%)||Income of $75k+||College degree||Married with Children||Voted for Bush (%)||Voted for Kerry (%)
|-
|Enterprisers||9%||11%|| style="background:#cfc;"|41%|| style="background:#cfc;"|46%||40%|| style="background:#fff3f3;"|92%||1%
|-
|Social Conservatives||11%||13%||30%||28%||28%|| style="background:#fff3f3;"|86%||4%
|-
|Pro-Government Conservatives||9%||10%|| style="background:#fc0;"|10%|| style="background:#fc0;"|15%||34%|| style="background:#fff3f3;"|61%||12%
|-
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; margin-right:60px"
|-
!The Middle||Persons (%)||Voters (%)||Income of $75k+||College degree||Married with Children||Voted for Bush (%)||Voted for Kerry (%)
|-
|Upbeats||11%||13%|| style="background:#cfc;"|39%|| style="background:#cfc;"|37%||28%|| style="background:#fff3f3;"|63%||14%
|-
|Disaffecteds||9%||10%||13%|| style="background:#fc0;"|11%||22%|| style="background:#fff3f3;"|42%||21%
|-
|Bystanders||10%||0%|| style="background:#fc0;"|8%||13%||28%||*||*
|-
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; margin-right:60px"
|-
!The Left||Persons (%)||Voters (%)||Income of $75k+||College degree||Married with Children||Voted for Bush (%)||Voted for Kerry (%)
|-
|Conservative Democrats||14%||15%||15%||16%||28%||14%|| style="background:#f0f0ff;"|65%
|-
|Disadvantaged Democrats||10%||10%|| style="background:#fc0;"|8%|| style="background:#fc0;"|13%||23%||2%|| style="background:#f0f0ff;"|82%
|-
|Liberals||17%||19%|| style="background:#cfc;"|41%|| style="background:#cfc;"|49%||20%||2%|| style="background:#f0f0ff;"|81%
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; margin-right:60px"
|-
!rowspan=2|Demographic||rowspan=2|Total||colspan=3|The Right||colspan=2|The Middle||colspan=3|The Left||rowspan=2|Bystanders
|-
!Demographic|Enterprisers||Social Conservatives||Pro-Government Conservatives||Upbeats||Disaffecteds||Conservative Democrats||Disadvantaged Democrats||Liberals
|-
!colspan=12|Race
|-
|White||80%|| style="background:#cfc;"|91%|| style="background:#cfc;"|91%||85%||87%||81%||64%|| style="background:#fc0;"|58%||83%||80%
|-
|Black||12%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%||4%||10%||7%||7%||30%|| style="background:#cfc;"|32%||6%||7%
|-
|Hispanic||10%|| style="background:#fc0;"|5%||7%||12%||7%||8%||11%||14%||9%|| style="background:#cfc;"|20%
|-
|Other||6%||4%||7%|| style="background:#fc0;"|3%||6%||9%||5%||9%||9%|| style="background:#cfc;"|11%
|-
!colspan=12|Region
|-
|East||19%||17%|| style="background:#fc0;"|14%||18%||21%||21%||21%||19%|| style="background:#cfc;"|24%||16%
|-
|Midwest||24%||22%||22%||23%||28%||27%||23%|| style="background:#cfc;"|32%||20%|| style="background:#fc0;"|19%
|-
|South||35%||34%|| style="background:#cfc;"|47%||42%||33%||30%||41%||35%|| style="background:#fc0;"|22%||35%
|-
|West||22%||27%||17%||17%||18%||22%||15%|| style="background:#fc0;"|14%|| style="background:#cfc;"|34%||30%
|-
!colspan=12|Sex
|-
|Male||48%|| style="background:#cfc;"|76%||42%|| style="background:#fc0;"|38%||50%||57%||44%||40%||46%||48%
|-
|Female||52%|| style="background:#fc0;"|24%||58%|| style="background:#cfc;"|62%||50%||43%||56%||60%||54%||52%
|-
!colspan=12|Age
|-
|18-29||21%|| style="background:#fc0;"|10%||13%||24%||26%||12%||17%||17%||28%|| style="background:#cfc;"|39%
|-
|30-49||39%|| style="background:#cfc;"|46%||37%||39%||36%|| style="background:#fc0;"|34%||37%||37%||40%||40%
|-
|50-64||22%||24%||21%||22%||21%||27%||23%|| style="background:#cfc;"|30%||21%|| style="background:#fc0;"|12%
|-
|65 and older||16%||18%|| style="background:#cfc;"|26%||14%||16%||15%||23%||13%||10%|| style="background:#fc0;"|8%
|}
Liberalism and conservatism are the most common ideologies in the U.S. apart from those who identify as moderate. Individuals embrace each ideology to widely varying extents. Liberals and progressives commonly advocate strong civil liberties
, social progressivism, cultural pluralism
, government ensuring of positive rights (education, health care, etc...) and a mixed economy
. Conservatives commonly defend the status quo, advocating more traditional stands on social issues, protection of gun rights and less government intervention.
Moderates, who may be left or right leaning, incorporate different aspects from liberalism and conservatism into their personal perspective. According to recent polls moderates are commonly identified as the second largest group, closely trailing conservatives, constituting between 36% and 39% of the population. Moderates are commonly defined through limiting the extent to which they adopt liberal and conservative ideas. CNN exit polls have found moderates to be rather evenly divided between the country's two main parties. Even though liberals are the most educated and affluent ideological demographic, moderates tend to become increasingly conservative with increased economic prosperity, causing the professional class to be split between Republicans and Democrats. Among those who do identify as either liberal or conservative few identify as "far left" or "far right." Most Americans either identify as "moderate" or as "somewhat" liberal or conservative. While often not mentioned in major polls and less organized than liberal or conservatives, libertarians
are a significant minority, constituting roughly 13% of the electorate. Libertarians commonly hold liberal views on social issues but conservative views on economic issues. Since the 1980s a majority of libertarians have favored the Republican Party, although in recent years, the margin favoring the Republicans has begun to shrink because of the libertarians' opposition to many recent Republican supported social issues.
, tension with the Soviet Union
in the Cold War
, the American Civil Rights Movement, the counterculture
of the 1960s, the deregulation
of the economy in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the overthrow of the New Deal Coalition
in the 1980s, and the terrorist threat of the 21st century
. Some of the most supported political issues among conservatives are economic liberalism
, fiscal conservatism
, and a form of social conservatism
that is more appealing to the Christian Right
. Conservatives tend to believe in a higher level of independence and self-reliance, and believe that the government should not get involved in private economic matters. Conservatives generally believe that having more economic freedom
and a less social government will lead to a more responsible and efficient society. For this reason, most American conservatives believe in economic liberalism
and fiscal conservatism
.
The word "conservative" comes from "conserve," hence describing those who generally wish to conserve the status quo as well as conserve money by cutting excessive government spending on perceived unnecessary things. Recently, however, more and more conservatives have advocated policy that would quickly and dramatically change society. Views on policies vary among different sub-groups. Enterprisers, for example, are more likely to oppose a universal health coverage program
. Overall, a majority of conservatives oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage, raising taxes as a method to balance the budget, while favoring increased military spending, supporting tax-cuts
to allow economic stimulation by providing the tax payers with extra money that they are more likely to spend (as opposed to tax increases), restricting abortion
options (many conservatives want to ban abortion altogether), and oppose stricter gun control laws often arguing that it is an infringement on the rights recognized in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
. Conservatives are more likely to find the use of torture on suspected terrorists as an interrogation method usually justifiable, while some Social Conservatives favor teaching the conception of Creationism
instead of the theory of Evolution
in public schools.
Roughly one third, 36%, to 42% of the American public self-identify as "conservative." Conservatives commonly outnumber liberals in the general public with both ideological groupings being outnumbered by centrists. The military-industrial complex in particular remains a conservative bastion. A 2003 survey by the Military Times found that the "military considers itself clearly more conservative and Republican." In a December 2006 poll, 46% of active personnel identified as Republican, down from 60% in 2004. In the 2000, 2004 and 2006 elections CNN exit polls found that roughly 80% of self-described conservatives voted Republican. A study by the Pew Research Center, where research assigned typological classifications based on responses to policy and ideological questions, found that a significant percentage of Democratic voters were social conservatives who only voted for the Democratic party due to their more left-leaning economic methods, as well as their longtime affiliation with the party especially among Dixiecrats and blacks
. This study divided conservatives into four groups: Enterprisers, Social Conservatives, Pro-Government Conservatives, and Conservative Democrats. Of the conservative groups, Conservative Democrats were the most common typological group comprising 14% of respondents while Enterprisers and Pro-Government Conservatives were the least common among the conservative groups at 9%. Enterprisers had the second highest percentage of college graduates (46%) behind Liberals, and were tied with Liberals percentage wise on those who have household incomes of $75,000 or more (41%), while actually having a higher percentage of people who have household incomes of $50,000 or more (62%). All conservative demographics were religious with less than 10% of respondents identifying as "secular," compared to 22% among liberals.
Liberalism in the U.S. is most commonly characterized by a mixture of social liberalism
and progressivism
, with a strong (if frequently unrecognized) ordoliberal
streak. Less frequently it may also describe forms of classic and neoliberalism
. Liberals in the United States advocate strong civil liberties
and social progressivism according to which societal practices need to be changed whenever necessary for the greater good of society or the benefits of those who wish to engage in those social arrangements. They believe that government action is needed in order for people to be as free as possible. Government must thereby ensure the provision of positive rights, protect civil liberties and ensure equality. American liberals commonly reject both laissez-faire capitalism and socialism
as means to distribute economic resources. A mixed economy
, that is a capitalist free market economy with limited government regulation and intervention is seen as the ideal. Recently, there has been a strong movement among liberals against corporate welfare
, which is generally favored by pro-government conservatives. Cultural pluralism
is quite common among American liberals. A majority of liberals favor diplomacy over military action, stem-cell research, the legalization of same-sex marriage
, secular government, stricter gun control
and environmental protection laws as well as the preservation of abortion rights. They tend to be rather divided on free trade agreements and organizations such as the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA). Most liberals oppose increased military standing and the display of the Ten Commandments in public buildings. Immigration and cultural diversity is deemed positive. As a result liberals favor cultural pluralism
, a system in which immigrants retain aspects of their native culture in addition to adopting their new culture.
According to the Pew Research Center liberals are particularly distinguished from any other typographic group by their socially progressive viewpoints. In 2004, liberals were the only group to advocate same sex marriage and euthanasia, policies regarded as left of the Democratic Party. Among the most prominent liberal periodicals are The Nation
, The American Prospect
, and The New Republic
. The New Republic described its political standing, giving a brief overview of contemporary American liberalism, in a June 2006 editorial stating it was "very much against the Bush tax programs, against Bush Social Security 'reform,' against cutting the inheritance tax, for radical health care changes, passionate about Gore-type environmentalism, for a woman's entitlement to an abortion, for gay marriage, for an increase in the minimum wage, for pursuing aggressively alternatives to our present reliance on oil and our present tax preferences for gas-guzzling automobiles."
Roughly 19% to 26% of the American public is liberal depending on survey and method. Liberals vote mostly in favor of the Democratic Party
constituting roughly 43% of the Democratic base. Liberalism tends to be most prominent in academia
and among the those with higher levels of education
. In 2004, 72% of full-time faculty members
at four-year colleges identified as liberal. In a 2004 survey of 1,000 economists registered Democrats outnumbered registered Republicans by a 2.5 to 1 ratio. The majority of economists favored "safety regulations, gun control, redistribution, public schooling, and anti-discrimination laws," while opposing "tighter immigration controls, government ownership of enterprise and tariffs." Among sociologists and anthropologists, Democrats outnumber Republicans 20 to 1.
Over the past decades the political outlook of Americans has become more progressive, with those below the age of thirty being considerably more liberal than the overall population. According to recent polls 56% of those age 18 to 29 favor gay marriage, 68% state environmental protection to be as important as job creation, 52% "think immigrants 'strengthen the country with their hard work and talents,'" 62% favor a "tax financed, government-administrated universal health care" program and 74% "say 'people's will' should have more influence on U.S. laws than the Bible, compared to 37%, 49%, 38%, 47% and 58% among the general population.
It is also shown by the Pew Research Center that conservatives tend to have stronger belief in personal empowerment than liberals. Among the wealthiest and most educated group of conservatives, the Enterprisers, 95% believed that most people can get ahead in life if they work hard. Despite having similar income and education levels, only 53% of Liberals agreed with Enterprisers on the issue while 39% disagreed and another 5% refused to answer. Even among the poorest and least educated groups of both the conservatives (the Pro-Government Conservatives) and the left-wing (the Disadvantaged Democrats) these differences in opinion about personal empowerment are apparent. While 74% of Pro-Government Conservatives believed that people can get ahead with hard work, only 14% of Disadvantaged Democrats agreed while 79% disagreed and the other 7% refused to answer.
The socially progressive Liberals and staunchly conservative Enterprisers are tied as the two most affluent groups, while Liberals are the most educated. Liberals have a slightly higher percentage of college graduates than Enterprisers; 49% of versus 46% of Enterprisers. Bystanders, those who chose not to participate in the political process, have the least percentage of college graduates (11%) and are tied with Disadvantaged Democrats as the most financially distressed. Generally, education and affluence increase the chances of an individual to be politically active. The professional class, which is relatively evenly divided among Democrats and Republicans, is among the most politically active, while those in the lower class - the working poor and underclass - commonly abstain from taking part in the political process. The working class
has become less politically active, partially due to a decline in the prevalence of labor unions
. As a result, the American electorate is considerably more affluent and educated than the general population. In the 2006 mid-term elections, for example, those with graduate degrees, who constitute 9% of the general population age 25 or older, comprised 16% of the electorate. All sizable socio-economic groups were relatively split between the two major parties in the 2000, 2004 and 2006 elections. Interestingly education, up to the undergraduate level, increased both a person's chances of being liberal and of him or her voting Republican. The contradiction is explained through moderate voters who tend to become more conservative as they become more economically prosperous. At the post-graduate level, liberals outnumber conservatives and a majority commonly votes Democratic.
Ideological groups are distinguished by certain societal attributes, such as religion
, marital status, education
, and gun ownership
, yet are relatively similar in terms of race
and ethnicity. Generally liberals were more likely to be secular, single and in possession of a college degree
, while less likely to own a gun. Conservatives, most of whom adhere to social
as well as fiscal conservatism
, tended to be far more religious and more likely to be married and own firearms. The majority of Social Conservatives and Pro-Government Conservatives attended church services once a week. Weekly churchgoers were also in the plurality among the general population and all ideological demographics, except liberals. Of liberals, a plurality, 43% attended church services "seldom or never," compared to 25% of respondents overall. Conservatives were also more likely to be married than Liberals or the Democratic voter base in general. The vast majority, 77% of Enterprisers were married compared to 44% of Liberals. Disadvantaged and Conservative Democrats had the highest union membership rates, 23% and 18%, compared to an overall 14%, respectively, as well as the highest percentage of minorities (Disadvantaged Democrats 55% Black, Hispanic, and Other; Conservative Democrats 46% Black, Hispanic, and Other). In terms of gun ownership, the majority of Enterprisers and Social Conservatives had a gun at home, compared to just 23% of Liberals. Liberals were the most educated group with 49% being college graduates compared to an average of 26.5% among all the conservative groups (including the Democratic voting Conservative Democrats). Disadvantaged Democrats were the least educated with only 13% having a college degree.
In terms of race, conservatives and liberals were fairly similar with more than 80% identifying as white
and having been born in the United States. However, Republican voting conservatives like Enterprisers, Social Conservatives, and Pro-Government Conservatives had a higher white percentage than liberals, especially Enterprisers and Social Conservatives who were both 91% white compared to 83% of Liberals. Liberals were also the most likely of every group to be born outside of the United States with 20% of liberal respondents saying that they or their parents were born outside of the United States, while only around 12% of all conservative types answered "yes" to the same question.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; margin-right:60px"
|-
!rowspan=2|Demographic||rowspan=2|Total||colspan=3|The right||colspan=2|The middle||colspan=3|The left||rowspan=2|"Bystanders"
|-
!Enterprisers||Social Conservatives||Pro-Government Conservatives||Upbeats||Disaffecteds||Conservative Democrats||Disadvantaged Democrats||Liberals
|-
|All respondents||100%||11%||12%||8%||12%||9%||13%||8%||18%||8%
|-
!colspan=12|Educational attainment
|-
|High School dropout||12%||3%||7%||16%||4%||18%||14%|| style="background:#cfc;"|23%|| style="background:#fc0;"|2%||24%
|-
|High School||37%||26%||39%||43%||25%|| style="background:#cfc;"|52%||44%||44%|| style="background:#fc0;"|23%||49%
|-
|Some college||24%||25%||26%||26%|| style="background:#cfc;"|33%||18%||26%||20%||26%|| style="background:#fc0;"|14%
|-
|College graduate||27%||46%||28%||15%||37%|| style="background:#fc0;"|11%||16%||13%|| style="background:#cfc;"|49%||13%
|-
!colspan=12|Household income
|-
|$20,000 or less||19%|| style="background:#fc0;"|7%||11%|| style="background:#cfc;"|32%||10%||27%||20%|| style="background:#cfc;"|32%||12%||27%
|-
|$20,000 to $30,000||16%|| style="background:#fc0;"|6%||15%||17%||8%||17%||22%||20%||12%|| style="background:#cfc;"|26%
|-
|$30,000 to $50,000||25%||25%||27%|| style="background:#cfc;"|30%||23%||27%||29%||26%|| style="background:#fc0;"|20%||24%
|-
|$50,000 to $75,000||16%|| style="background:#cfc;"|21%||17%|| style="background:#fc0;"|11%||20%||16%||14%||14%||15%||15%
|-
|$75,000 or higher||24%|| style="background:#cfc;"|41%||30%||10%||39%||13%||15%|| style="background:#fc0;"|8%|| style="background:#cfc;"|41%|| style="background:#fc0;"|8%
|-
!colspan=12|Secular?
|-
|Secular||8%||6%||3%||4%||5%||9%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%||5%|| style="background:#cfc;"|22%||12%
|-
!colspan=12|Party lean
|-
|Democratic
||46%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%||3%||14%||10%||98%|| style="background:#cfc;"|99%||92%||38%
|-
|Republican
||45%|| style="background:#cfc;"|98%||97%||86%||73%||60%|| style="background:#fc0;"|0%|| style="background:#fc0;"|0%||2%||39%
|-
|Independent||9%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%||2%||11%||13%|| style="background:#cfc;"|30%||2%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%||6%||23%
|}
SOURCE: Pew Research Center
, 2005
Left-Right politics
The left–right political spectrum is a common way of classifying political positions, political ideologies, or political parties along a one-dimensional political spectrum. The perspective of Left vs. Right is a binary interpretation of complex questions...
as liberal-progressive
Liberalism in the United States
Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
, moderate, or conservative. American liberalism aims at the preservation and extension of human, social and civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
as well as the government guaranteed provision of positive rights. It combines social progressivism and to some extent, ordoliberalism
Ordoliberalism
Ordoliberalism is a school of liberalism that emphasised the need for the state to ensure that the free market produces results close to its theoretical potential . The theory was developed by German economists and legal scholars such as Walter Eucken, Franz Böhm, Hans Grossmann-Doerth and Leonhard...
and is highly similar to European social liberalism
Social liberalism
Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...
of parties like the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
, Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
Democrats 66
Democrats 66
Democrats 66 is a progressive and social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned, young intellectuals, led by journalist Hans van Mierlo. The party's main objective was to democratise the political system; it proposed to create an...
and Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
Flemish Liberals and Democrats
Flemish Liberals and Democrats
' , commonly known as Open VLD and also simply as the VLD, is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium, created in 1992 from the former Party for Freedom and Progress and a few other politicians from other parties. The party led the government for three cabinets under Guy Verhofstadt from 1999...
. American conservatism commonly refers to a combination of economic liberalism
Economic liberalism
Economic liberalism is the ideological belief in giving all people economic freedom, and as such granting people with more basis to control their own lives and make their own mistakes. It is an economic philosophy that supports and promotes individual liberty and choice in economic matters and...
and social conservatism
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
and to an extent, libertarianism
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
. It aims at protecting traditional values (especially on social issues) while promoting the concept of small government
Small government
A Small government is one which minimizes its own activities. It is a concept important to classical liberalism and libertarianism.-In Hong Kong:...
.
The ideological position a person or party takes may be described in terms of social and economic policy. The ideological positions a person assumes on social and economic policy issues may differ in their position on the political spectrum. Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
, for example, was left-of-center on social issues but right-of-center on fiscal matters. Several ideological demographics may be identified in addition to or as subgroups of liberals and conservatives with nearly every possible ideology being found in the general population.
In the U.S., the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
generally represents liberal ideals, while the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
commonly represents conservative ideals. Smaller parties such as the Libertarian Party
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
play a minor role in American politics.
The size of ideological groups varies slightly depending on the poll. Gallup/USA Today polling in June 2010 revealed that 42% of those surveyed identify as conservative, 35% as moderate, while 20% identify as liberal. In another polling in June 2010, 40% of American voters identify themselves as conservatives, 36% as moderates and 22% as liberals, with a strong majority of both liberals and conservatives describing themselves as closer to the center than to the extremes. In a 2005 study, the Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center is an American think tank organization based in Washington, D.C. that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the United States and the world. The Center and its projects receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. In 1990, Donald S...
identified nine typological groups. Three groups were identified as part of each, "the left," "the middle," and "the right." In this categorization system, "the right" roughly represents the Republican base, those on "the left" the Democratic base and those in "the middle" independents. Within the left are the largely secular and anti-war "Liberals", the socially conservative but economically left "Conservative Democrats", and the economically "Disadvantaged Democrats" who favor an extended welfare state. In "the middle" are the optimistic and upwardly mobile "Upbeats", the discouraged and mistrusting "Disaffecteds," and the disenfranchised "Bystanders." The right compromises the highly pro-business "Enterprisers," the highly religious "Social Conservatives" (also known as the Christian right
Christian right
Christian right is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe "right-wing" Christian political groups that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies...
), and the "Pro-Government Conservatives" who are largely conservative on social issues but support government intervention to better their economic disposition.
Typological groups
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; margin-right:60px"|-
!The Right||Persons (%)||Voters (%)||Income of $75k+||College degree||Married with Children||Voted for Bush (%)||Voted for Kerry (%)
|-
|Enterprisers||9%||11%|| style="background:#cfc;"|41%|| style="background:#cfc;"|46%||40%|| style="background:#fff3f3;"|92%||1%
|-
|Social Conservatives||11%||13%||30%||28%||28%|| style="background:#fff3f3;"|86%||4%
|-
|Pro-Government Conservatives||9%||10%|| style="background:#fc0;"|10%|| style="background:#fc0;"|15%||34%|| style="background:#fff3f3;"|61%||12%
|-
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; margin-right:60px"
|-
!The Middle||Persons (%)||Voters (%)||Income of $75k+||College degree||Married with Children||Voted for Bush (%)||Voted for Kerry (%)
|-
|Upbeats||11%||13%|| style="background:#cfc;"|39%|| style="background:#cfc;"|37%||28%|| style="background:#fff3f3;"|63%||14%
|-
|Disaffecteds||9%||10%||13%|| style="background:#fc0;"|11%||22%|| style="background:#fff3f3;"|42%||21%
|-
|Bystanders||10%||0%|| style="background:#fc0;"|8%||13%||28%||*||*
|-
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; margin-right:60px"
|-
!The Left||Persons (%)||Voters (%)||Income of $75k+||College degree||Married with Children||Voted for Bush (%)||Voted for Kerry (%)
|-
|Conservative Democrats||14%||15%||15%||16%||28%||14%|| style="background:#f0f0ff;"|65%
|-
|Disadvantaged Democrats||10%||10%|| style="background:#fc0;"|8%|| style="background:#fc0;"|13%||23%||2%|| style="background:#f0f0ff;"|82%
|-
|Liberals||17%||19%|| style="background:#cfc;"|41%|| style="background:#cfc;"|49%||20%||2%|| style="background:#f0f0ff;"|81%
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; margin-right:60px"
|-
!rowspan=2|Demographic||rowspan=2|Total||colspan=3|The Right||colspan=2|The Middle||colspan=3|The Left||rowspan=2|Bystanders
|-
!Demographic|Enterprisers||Social Conservatives||Pro-Government Conservatives||Upbeats||Disaffecteds||Conservative Democrats||Disadvantaged Democrats||Liberals
|-
!colspan=12|Race
|-
|White||80%|| style="background:#cfc;"|91%|| style="background:#cfc;"|91%||85%||87%||81%||64%|| style="background:#fc0;"|58%||83%||80%
|-
|Black||12%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%||4%||10%||7%||7%||30%|| style="background:#cfc;"|32%||6%||7%
|-
|Hispanic||10%|| style="background:#fc0;"|5%||7%||12%||7%||8%||11%||14%||9%|| style="background:#cfc;"|20%
|-
|Other||6%||4%||7%|| style="background:#fc0;"|3%||6%||9%||5%||9%||9%|| style="background:#cfc;"|11%
|-
!colspan=12|Region
|-
|East||19%||17%|| style="background:#fc0;"|14%||18%||21%||21%||21%||19%|| style="background:#cfc;"|24%||16%
|-
|Midwest||24%||22%||22%||23%||28%||27%||23%|| style="background:#cfc;"|32%||20%|| style="background:#fc0;"|19%
|-
|South||35%||34%|| style="background:#cfc;"|47%||42%||33%||30%||41%||35%|| style="background:#fc0;"|22%||35%
|-
|West||22%||27%||17%||17%||18%||22%||15%|| style="background:#fc0;"|14%|| style="background:#cfc;"|34%||30%
|-
!colspan=12|Sex
|-
|Male||48%|| style="background:#cfc;"|76%||42%|| style="background:#fc0;"|38%||50%||57%||44%||40%||46%||48%
|-
|Female||52%|| style="background:#fc0;"|24%||58%|| style="background:#cfc;"|62%||50%||43%||56%||60%||54%||52%
|-
!colspan=12|Age
|-
|18-29||21%|| style="background:#fc0;"|10%||13%||24%||26%||12%||17%||17%||28%|| style="background:#cfc;"|39%
|-
|30-49||39%|| style="background:#cfc;"|46%||37%||39%||36%|| style="background:#fc0;"|34%||37%||37%||40%||40%
|-
|50-64||22%||24%||21%||22%||21%||27%||23%|| style="background:#cfc;"|30%||21%|| style="background:#fc0;"|12%
|-
|65 and older||16%||18%|| style="background:#cfc;"|26%||14%||16%||15%||23%||13%||10%|| style="background:#fc0;"|8%
|}
Prominent ideologies
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
, social progressivism, cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, and their values and practices are accepted by the wider culture. Cultural pluralism is often confused with Multiculturalism...
, government ensuring of positive rights (education, health care, etc...) and a mixed economy
Mixed economy
Mixed economy is an economic system in which both the state and private sector direct the economy, reflecting characteristics of both market economies and planned economies. Most mixed economies can be described as market economies with strong regulatory oversight, in addition to having a variety...
. Conservatives commonly defend the status quo, advocating more traditional stands on social issues, protection of gun rights and less government intervention.
Moderates, who may be left or right leaning, incorporate different aspects from liberalism and conservatism into their personal perspective. According to recent polls moderates are commonly identified as the second largest group, closely trailing conservatives, constituting between 36% and 39% of the population. Moderates are commonly defined through limiting the extent to which they adopt liberal and conservative ideas. CNN exit polls have found moderates to be rather evenly divided between the country's two main parties. Even though liberals are the most educated and affluent ideological demographic, moderates tend to become increasingly conservative with increased economic prosperity, causing the professional class to be split between Republicans and Democrats. Among those who do identify as either liberal or conservative few identify as "far left" or "far right." Most Americans either identify as "moderate" or as "somewhat" liberal or conservative. While often not mentioned in major polls and less organized than liberal or conservatives, libertarians
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
are a significant minority, constituting roughly 13% of the electorate. Libertarians commonly hold liberal views on social issues but conservative views on economic issues. Since the 1980s a majority of libertarians have favored the Republican Party, although in recent years, the margin favoring the Republicans has begun to shrink because of the libertarians' opposition to many recent Republican supported social issues.
Conservatism
In the United States modern conservatism coalesced in the latter half of the 20th century, responding over time to the political and social change associated with events such as the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, tension with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the American Civil Rights Movement, the counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
of the 1960s, the deregulation
Deregulation
Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
of the economy in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the overthrow of the New Deal Coalition
New Deal coalition
The New Deal Coalition was the alignment of interest groups and voting blocs that supported the New Deal and voted for Democratic presidential candidates from 1932 until the late 1960s. It made the Democratic Party the majority party during that period, losing only to Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952...
in the 1980s, and the terrorist threat of the 21st century
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. Some of the most supported political issues among conservatives are economic liberalism
Economic liberalism
Economic liberalism is the ideological belief in giving all people economic freedom, and as such granting people with more basis to control their own lives and make their own mistakes. It is an economic philosophy that supports and promotes individual liberty and choice in economic matters and...
, fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism is a political term used to describe a fiscal policy that advocates avoiding deficit spending. Fiscal conservatives often consider reduction of overall government spending and national debt as well as ensuring balanced budget of paramount importance...
, and a form of social conservatism
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
that is more appealing to the Christian Right
Christian right
Christian right is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe "right-wing" Christian political groups that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies...
. Conservatives tend to believe in a higher level of independence and self-reliance, and believe that the government should not get involved in private economic matters. Conservatives generally believe that having more economic freedom
Economic freedom
Economic freedom is a term used in economic and policy debates. As with freedom generally, there are various definitions, but no universally accepted concept of economic freedom...
and a less social government will lead to a more responsible and efficient society. For this reason, most American conservatives believe in economic liberalism
Economic liberalism
Economic liberalism is the ideological belief in giving all people economic freedom, and as such granting people with more basis to control their own lives and make their own mistakes. It is an economic philosophy that supports and promotes individual liberty and choice in economic matters and...
and fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism is a political term used to describe a fiscal policy that advocates avoiding deficit spending. Fiscal conservatives often consider reduction of overall government spending and national debt as well as ensuring balanced budget of paramount importance...
.
The word "conservative" comes from "conserve," hence describing those who generally wish to conserve the status quo as well as conserve money by cutting excessive government spending on perceived unnecessary things. Recently, however, more and more conservatives have advocated policy that would quickly and dramatically change society. Views on policies vary among different sub-groups. Enterprisers, for example, are more likely to oppose a universal health coverage program
Universal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...
. Overall, a majority of conservatives oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage, raising taxes as a method to balance the budget, while favoring increased military spending, supporting tax-cuts
Tax cut
A tax cut is a reduction in taxes. The immediate effects of a tax cut are a decrease in the real income of the government and an increase in the real income of those whose tax rate has been lowered. Due to the perceived benefit in growing real incomes among tax payers politicians have sought to...
to allow economic stimulation by providing the tax payers with extra money that they are more likely to spend (as opposed to tax increases), restricting abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
options (many conservatives want to ban abortion altogether), and oppose stricter gun control laws often arguing that it is an infringement on the rights recognized in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.In 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court issued two Second...
. Conservatives are more likely to find the use of torture on suspected terrorists as an interrogation method usually justifiable, while some Social Conservatives favor teaching the conception of Creationism
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
instead of the theory of Evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
in public schools.
Roughly one third, 36%, to 42% of the American public self-identify as "conservative." Conservatives commonly outnumber liberals in the general public with both ideological groupings being outnumbered by centrists. The military-industrial complex in particular remains a conservative bastion. A 2003 survey by the Military Times found that the "military considers itself clearly more conservative and Republican." In a December 2006 poll, 46% of active personnel identified as Republican, down from 60% in 2004. In the 2000, 2004 and 2006 elections CNN exit polls found that roughly 80% of self-described conservatives voted Republican. A study by the Pew Research Center, where research assigned typological classifications based on responses to policy and ideological questions, found that a significant percentage of Democratic voters were social conservatives who only voted for the Democratic party due to their more left-leaning economic methods, as well as their longtime affiliation with the party especially among Dixiecrats and blacks
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
. This study divided conservatives into four groups: Enterprisers, Social Conservatives, Pro-Government Conservatives, and Conservative Democrats. Of the conservative groups, Conservative Democrats were the most common typological group comprising 14% of respondents while Enterprisers and Pro-Government Conservatives were the least common among the conservative groups at 9%. Enterprisers had the second highest percentage of college graduates (46%) behind Liberals, and were tied with Liberals percentage wise on those who have household incomes of $75,000 or more (41%), while actually having a higher percentage of people who have household incomes of $50,000 or more (62%). All conservative demographics were religious with less than 10% of respondents identifying as "secular," compared to 22% among liberals.
Liberalism
Social liberalism
Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...
and progressivism
Progressivism in the United States
Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
, with a strong (if frequently unrecognized) ordoliberal
Ordoliberalism
Ordoliberalism is a school of liberalism that emphasised the need for the state to ensure that the free market produces results close to its theoretical potential . The theory was developed by German economists and legal scholars such as Walter Eucken, Franz Böhm, Hans Grossmann-Doerth and Leonhard...
streak. Less frequently it may also describe forms of classic and neoliberalism
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...
. Liberals in the United States advocate strong civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
and social progressivism according to which societal practices need to be changed whenever necessary for the greater good of society or the benefits of those who wish to engage in those social arrangements. They believe that government action is needed in order for people to be as free as possible. Government must thereby ensure the provision of positive rights, protect civil liberties and ensure equality. American liberals commonly reject both laissez-faire capitalism and socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
as means to distribute economic resources. A mixed economy
Mixed economy
Mixed economy is an economic system in which both the state and private sector direct the economy, reflecting characteristics of both market economies and planned economies. Most mixed economies can be described as market economies with strong regulatory oversight, in addition to having a variety...
, that is a capitalist free market economy with limited government regulation and intervention is seen as the ideal. Recently, there has been a strong movement among liberals against corporate welfare
Corporate welfare
Corporate welfare is a pejorative term describing a government's bestowal of money grants, tax breaks, or other special favorable treatment on corporations or selected corporations. The term compares corporate subsidies and welfare payments to the poor, and implies that corporations are much less...
, which is generally favored by pro-government conservatives. Cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, and their values and practices are accepted by the wider culture. Cultural pluralism is often confused with Multiculturalism...
is quite common among American liberals. A majority of liberals favor diplomacy over military action, stem-cell research, the legalization of same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
, secular government, stricter gun control
Gun control
Gun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...
and environmental protection laws as well as the preservation of abortion rights. They tend to be rather divided on free trade agreements and organizations such as the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA). Most liberals oppose increased military standing and the display of the Ten Commandments in public buildings. Immigration and cultural diversity is deemed positive. As a result liberals favor cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, and their values and practices are accepted by the wider culture. Cultural pluralism is often confused with Multiculturalism...
, a system in which immigrants retain aspects of their native culture in addition to adopting their new culture.
According to the Pew Research Center liberals are particularly distinguished from any other typographic group by their socially progressive viewpoints. In 2004, liberals were the only group to advocate same sex marriage and euthanasia, policies regarded as left of the Democratic Party. Among the most prominent liberal periodicals are The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, The American Prospect
The American Prospect
The American Prospect is a monthly American political magazine dedicated to American liberalism. Based in Washington, DC, The American Prospect is a journal "of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics" which focuses on United States politics...
, and The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
. The New Republic described its political standing, giving a brief overview of contemporary American liberalism, in a June 2006 editorial stating it was "very much against the Bush tax programs, against Bush Social Security 'reform,' against cutting the inheritance tax, for radical health care changes, passionate about Gore-type environmentalism, for a woman's entitlement to an abortion, for gay marriage, for an increase in the minimum wage, for pursuing aggressively alternatives to our present reliance on oil and our present tax preferences for gas-guzzling automobiles."
Roughly 19% to 26% of the American public is liberal depending on survey and method. Liberals vote mostly in favor of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
constituting roughly 43% of the Democratic base. Liberalism tends to be most prominent in academia
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
and among the those with higher levels of education
Educational attainment in the United States
The educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
. In 2004, 72% of full-time faculty members
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at four-year colleges identified as liberal. In a 2004 survey of 1,000 economists registered Democrats outnumbered registered Republicans by a 2.5 to 1 ratio. The majority of economists favored "safety regulations, gun control, redistribution, public schooling, and anti-discrimination laws," while opposing "tighter immigration controls, government ownership of enterprise and tariffs." Among sociologists and anthropologists, Democrats outnumber Republicans 20 to 1.
Over the past decades the political outlook of Americans has become more progressive, with those below the age of thirty being considerably more liberal than the overall population. According to recent polls 56% of those age 18 to 29 favor gay marriage, 68% state environmental protection to be as important as job creation, 52% "think immigrants 'strengthen the country with their hard work and talents,'" 62% favor a "tax financed, government-administrated universal health care" program and 74% "say 'people's will' should have more influence on U.S. laws than the Bible, compared to 37%, 49%, 38%, 47% and 58% among the general population.
It is also shown by the Pew Research Center that conservatives tend to have stronger belief in personal empowerment than liberals. Among the wealthiest and most educated group of conservatives, the Enterprisers, 95% believed that most people can get ahead in life if they work hard. Despite having similar income and education levels, only 53% of Liberals agreed with Enterprisers on the issue while 39% disagreed and another 5% refused to answer. Even among the poorest and least educated groups of both the conservatives (the Pro-Government Conservatives) and the left-wing (the Disadvantaged Democrats) these differences in opinion about personal empowerment are apparent. While 74% of Pro-Government Conservatives believed that people can get ahead with hard work, only 14% of Disadvantaged Democrats agreed while 79% disagreed and the other 7% refused to answer.
Demographics of ideological groups
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
has become less politically active, partially due to a decline in the prevalence of labor unions
Labor unions in the United States
Labor unions in the United States are legally recognized as representatives of workers in many industries. The most prominent unions are among public sector employees such as teachers and police...
. As a result, the American electorate is considerably more affluent and educated than the general population. In the 2006 mid-term elections, for example, those with graduate degrees, who constitute 9% of the general population age 25 or older, comprised 16% of the electorate. All sizable socio-economic groups were relatively split between the two major parties in the 2000, 2004 and 2006 elections. Interestingly education, up to the undergraduate level, increased both a person's chances of being liberal and of him or her voting Republican. The contradiction is explained through moderate voters who tend to become more conservative as they become more economically prosperous. At the post-graduate level, liberals outnumber conservatives and a majority commonly votes Democratic.
Ideological groups are distinguished by certain societal attributes, such as religion
Religion in the United States
Religion in the United States is characterized by both a wide diversity in religious beliefs and practices, and by a high adherence level. According to recent surveys, 83 percent of Americans claim to belong to a religious denomination, 40 percent claim to attend services nearly every week or...
, marital status, education
Educational attainment in the United States
The educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
, and gun ownership
Gun politics in the United States
Gun politics in the United States refers to an ongoing political and social debate regarding both the restriction and availability of firearms within the United States. It has long been among the most controversial and intractable issues in American politics...
, yet are relatively similar in terms of race
Race in the United States
The United States is a racially diverse country. Modern issues of "race", as well as its impact in the political and economic development of the nation, have been examined by numerous historians and researchers across a variety of academic disciplines....
and ethnicity. Generally liberals were more likely to be secular, single and in possession of a college degree
Bachelor's degree or higher
Bachelor's degree or higher is a commonly used term by the United States Census Bureau and other U.S. government agencies on the federal as well as state and local level. The term describes the portion of the population that has either a bachelor's degree or a higher degree such as a master's or...
, while less likely to own a gun. Conservatives, most of whom adhere to social
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
as well as fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism is a political term used to describe a fiscal policy that advocates avoiding deficit spending. Fiscal conservatives often consider reduction of overall government spending and national debt as well as ensuring balanced budget of paramount importance...
, tended to be far more religious and more likely to be married and own firearms. The majority of Social Conservatives and Pro-Government Conservatives attended church services once a week. Weekly churchgoers were also in the plurality among the general population and all ideological demographics, except liberals. Of liberals, a plurality, 43% attended church services "seldom or never," compared to 25% of respondents overall. Conservatives were also more likely to be married than Liberals or the Democratic voter base in general. The vast majority, 77% of Enterprisers were married compared to 44% of Liberals. Disadvantaged and Conservative Democrats had the highest union membership rates, 23% and 18%, compared to an overall 14%, respectively, as well as the highest percentage of minorities (Disadvantaged Democrats 55% Black, Hispanic, and Other; Conservative Democrats 46% Black, Hispanic, and Other). In terms of gun ownership, the majority of Enterprisers and Social Conservatives had a gun at home, compared to just 23% of Liberals. Liberals were the most educated group with 49% being college graduates compared to an average of 26.5% among all the conservative groups (including the Democratic voting Conservative Democrats). Disadvantaged Democrats were the least educated with only 13% having a college degree.
In terms of race, conservatives and liberals were fairly similar with more than 80% identifying as white
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
and having been born in the United States. However, Republican voting conservatives like Enterprisers, Social Conservatives, and Pro-Government Conservatives had a higher white percentage than liberals, especially Enterprisers and Social Conservatives who were both 91% white compared to 83% of Liberals. Liberals were also the most likely of every group to be born outside of the United States with 20% of liberal respondents saying that they or their parents were born outside of the United States, while only around 12% of all conservative types answered "yes" to the same question.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; margin-right:60px"
|-
!rowspan=2|Demographic||rowspan=2|Total||colspan=3|The right||colspan=2|The middle||colspan=3|The left||rowspan=2|"Bystanders"
|-
!Enterprisers||Social Conservatives||Pro-Government Conservatives||Upbeats||Disaffecteds||Conservative Democrats||Disadvantaged Democrats||Liberals
|-
|All respondents||100%||11%||12%||8%||12%||9%||13%||8%||18%||8%
|-
!colspan=12|Educational attainment
Educational attainment in the United States
The educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
|-
|High School dropout||12%||3%||7%||16%||4%||18%||14%|| style="background:#cfc;"|23%|| style="background:#fc0;"|2%||24%
|-
|High School||37%||26%||39%||43%||25%|| style="background:#cfc;"|52%||44%||44%|| style="background:#fc0;"|23%||49%
|-
|Some college||24%||25%||26%||26%|| style="background:#cfc;"|33%||18%||26%||20%||26%|| style="background:#fc0;"|14%
|-
|College graduate||27%||46%||28%||15%||37%|| style="background:#fc0;"|11%||16%||13%|| style="background:#cfc;"|49%||13%
|-
!colspan=12|Household income
Household income in the United States
Household income is a measure commonly used by the United States government and private institutions, that counts the income of all residents over the age of 18 in each household, including not only all wages and salaries, but such items as unemployment insurance, disability payments, child support...
|-
|$20,000 or less||19%|| style="background:#fc0;"|7%||11%|| style="background:#cfc;"|32%||10%||27%||20%|| style="background:#cfc;"|32%||12%||27%
|-
|$20,000 to $30,000||16%|| style="background:#fc0;"|6%||15%||17%||8%||17%||22%||20%||12%|| style="background:#cfc;"|26%
|-
|$30,000 to $50,000||25%||25%||27%|| style="background:#cfc;"|30%||23%||27%||29%||26%|| style="background:#fc0;"|20%||24%
|-
|$50,000 to $75,000||16%|| style="background:#cfc;"|21%||17%|| style="background:#fc0;"|11%||20%||16%||14%||14%||15%||15%
|-
|$75,000 or higher||24%|| style="background:#cfc;"|41%||30%||10%||39%||13%||15%|| style="background:#fc0;"|8%|| style="background:#cfc;"|41%|| style="background:#fc0;"|8%
|-
!colspan=12|Secular?
|-
|Secular||8%||6%||3%||4%||5%||9%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%||5%|| style="background:#cfc;"|22%||12%
|-
!colspan=12|Party lean
|-
|Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
||46%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%||3%||14%||10%||98%|| style="background:#cfc;"|99%||92%||38%
|-
|Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
||45%|| style="background:#cfc;"|98%||97%||86%||73%||60%|| style="background:#fc0;"|0%|| style="background:#fc0;"|0%||2%||39%
|-
|Independent||9%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%||2%||11%||13%|| style="background:#cfc;"|30%||2%|| style="background:#fc0;"|1%||6%||23%
|}
SOURCE: Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center is an American think tank organization based in Washington, D.C. that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the United States and the world. The Center and its projects receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. In 1990, Donald S...
, 2005
See also
- Democratic PartyDemocratic Party (United States)The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
- Republican PartyRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
- Red states and blue states
- Southernization