Americans Are Far Less Conservative Than the Right Wing Claims

[Better Believe It]

Americans Are Far Less Conservative Than the Right Wing Claims
New research suggests that only a quarter of self-identified “conservatives” may actually be true conservatives on the issues. Many aren't conservative at all.
By Lee Drutman
January 17, 2011

Among the many memes floating around in the wake of the 2010 election is that America has taken a rightward turn, and conservative pundits seem re-energized in calling America a center-right nation. After all, a plurality of American voters (42 percent) now call themselves “conservative” — as compared to just 35 percent who say they are “moderate” and 20 percent who say they are “liberal.” Two years ago, moderates and conservatives both were at 37 percent.

But new research suggests that pundits ought to be cautious of overinterpreting the conservative label: It doesn’t always mean what they think it means: Only a quarter of self-identified “conservatives” may actually be true conservatives on the issues — less than the 30 percent of whom are not conservative at all, but simply like the label.

The reason why so few “conservatives” turn out to be solid right-wingers is that the word “conservative” has different meanings for different people, according to political scientists Christopher Ellis of Bucknell and James A. Stimson of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, who describe their findings in a new working paper, “Pathways to Ideology in American Politics: The Operational-Symbolic ‘Paradox’ Revisited”

According to their research, some people genuinely know what it means to be a conservative in the current political debate and indeed express matching preferences across all issues. But these “constrained conservatives” (as Ellis and Stimson call them) account for only 26 percent of all self-identified conservatives.

Read the full article at:

http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/149561/americans_are_far_less_conservative_than_the_right_wing_claims/

[Turbineguy]

1. Or to put it another way:

"We're not as crazy as you think!"

[rfranklin]

2. I have heard the "Americans identify as conservatives" meme in MSM...

endlessly and they never point out that people are afraid to use the liberl label because the right wingers have demonized "liberals" for 40 years. And then there is the fact that on most issues the majority of Americans support the liberal position.

[WiffenPoof]

3. Taking Consideration That...

everything is relative, I have to say that our society is far more conservative than most people think. Can you explain to me how Bush got a second term?

-PLA

[Better Believe It]

5. "how Bush got a second term?" A large minority of the voting age population voted for him.

A big majority of people either voted for other presidential candidates or did not vote at all.

[denverbill]

4. Hey, I consider myself a moderate, but believe in National health care,

more progressive taxation, reworking NAFTA, etc. Most 'constrained conservatives' consider me a commie, but I think my positions are pretty in line with what most people in this country want, which makes me a moderate.

[patrice]

6. K&R

[struggle4progress]

7. Meaning: we need to rethink how we handle labels, in order to communicate better