The U.S. Is Getting More Liberal With Each Generation

It seems to be the general consensus of many political pundits that the United States is a conservative country. I don't really believe that, and I posted the other day about how most people claim to be conservative but believe in progressive ideas. That's because the right-wing, with the help of the corporate media, has been able to demonize the word "liberal".

But the good news is that with each generation, Americans are not only accepting liberal ideas, but are more willing to accept the liberal label. The chart above is from the Gallup Poll. They do a yearly survey of how Americans refer to themselves politically (with the last being done throughout 2014 of a random sample of 16,479 adults. Each group in the survey has a margin of error of 2 points. The generational groups are:

Traditionalists (born 1900-1945)
Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964)
Gen Xers (born 1965-1979)
Millennials (born 1980-1996)

The numbers on the chart above represent the conservative to liberal ratio of each generation (arrived at by subtracting those claiming to be liberal from those claiming to be conservative). That means the higher the number, the more conservative the group -- and the lower the number, the more liberal.

While each group goes up and down slightly each year, it is remarkable just how stable they are. And the important thing to note from the chart is how each generation is less conservative (and therefore more liberal) than the last. That is good news for the future of this country.