Are Americans As Conservative As They Claim To Be ?

Last January, the Gallup Poll published a survey showing how Americans self-identify their own political ideology (conservative, moderate, or liberal). And as with similar polls in recent years, significantly more Americans claimed to be conservative than claimed to be liberal (38% to 23% for the general population). In fact, there is only one group where more people say they are liberals than conservatives -- those also identifying as Democrats. Both Republicans and Independents join the general public as having more conservatives than liberals.

Now this might make the casual observer believe that the American public supports the policies advanced by conservatives significantly more than they support the policies advanced by liberals, but things are not quite that simple. While the Republicans have been successful in demonizing the word "liberal", they have not been nearly as successful in convincing the public that liberals ideas and policies are bad for the country.

This is shown in the results of a recent survey by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (done between April 7th and 27th of a random national sample of 1,538 adults, with a margin of error of about 3.3 points). The following charts show the results of that survey:

That doesn't sound like the American public is afraid of liberal ideas and policies to me. All of the above are anathema to conservatives (and their congressional representatives). They are liberal policies and ideas -- and they are accepted by a significant majority of the American population. And it doesn't stop there. Earlier this week an ABC News / Washington Post Poll showed that 70% of the public supported the new EPA rules requiring tougher pollution standards for energy plants -- and 63% support those tougher rules even if it would result in a $20 a month higher electric bill. We also know from several surveys that over 80% of Americans want the loopholes closed in the background check law for gun purchases -- and smaller, but significant, majorities would like to see large volume ammunition clip and assault weapons banned.

Americans may be reticent to identify themselves as liberal, but they are definitely willing to accept and support many liberal ideas and policies. To put it bluntly, the American public is a lot more liberal than they think they are (or will admit).