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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  October 26th, 2009 at 10:34 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

How can this be?

Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group.

I hope the RNC, GOP, NRSC, NRCC, etc. are paying attention to this.

As I have noted repeatedly, data from the 2008 exit polling showed that more people considered themselves “conservative” than “liberal.” This new Gallup poll is in accord with that.

This goes straight to NY-23, where both the DCCC and NRCC are attacking Doug Hoffman, the conservative candidate. Apparently, unlike the NRCC, the DCCC sees a path to victory for Doug Hoffman.

When the GOP paints a clearly distinct picture of ideas and issues from the Democrats, they win. Voters do not want to vote for Democrat-lite when they get have the real thing. The GOP should offer competing ideas, not just repacked Democrat ideas that have lower price tags.

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  • http://online.logcabin.org/about/ suzieQ

    Most people identify themselves as conservative. Yet, in the last two election cycles, the democrats picked up seats in the House, Senate, and the White House, plus governorships. Why is that?

    Because the drive-by media made it look like these Marxist candidates were exactly what the voters wanted, the polls were purposely biased in their favor, and the true conservatives were slandered as racists. The Democrat Socialist Party is the true racists with their affirmative action b.s.

    The GOP needs to push the message of truth. But, by 2010, I don’t think we will have to worry about the elections much. People will have seen the results of those they elected. You can’t blame Bush forever.

  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    I hope the RNC, GOP, NRSC, NRCC, etc. are paying attention to this.

    Quite honestly it would appear they’re calling our bluff. I’m sure they’ll be enlightened come election day.

  • mikefisk

    …that the GOP wasn’t running, leading with, or being led by conservatives in any appreciable sense.

    I mean, who was the last clearly conservative person nominated by the GOP for President? You’d have to go all the way back to Reagan for that, and it’s a pattern that, sadly, won’t be broken any time soon, I fear.

    If Hoffman’s people are smart, though, they can work this development to their advantage in a huge way. After all, you have the sum total of the party structure of both major political parties, not going after each other, but focused with laser-like precision on him. That should tell you immediately what sort of a threat he presents to both the Democrats as well as the GOP’s invertebrate, feckless leadership, and it’s something that he should run full speed ahead with.

  • smitch61

    Erik, do we know what the polls show at all in NY?

  • smitch61

    I spelled your name incorrectly .. sorry Erick

  • Scope

    The RNCC, the RNSC, and the RNC have consistently shown their ability to screw up a free lunch, with hardly any effort. Backing the most Liberal candidate in NY Scossafava (Good Lord, that name sounds like they are first cousins with the Gambino family) hopefully will be their final defeat. I’m just waiting to hear from some of the NRCC members, when things crash and burn around them, they will say “Oh, I was on the committee, but, I didn’t agree with backing Scozzi..” It’s amazing to watch these antics, especially in light of the above statistics. McCain, the biggest idiot ever to run from any party for president, did everything in his power to open the tent up as big as he could get it. He could care less about the Conservative base. He was chasing those ever elusive Independents. As we know, the Independents went heavily for Obama. Now, those same Independents are coming back into the fold of the Republican party, or in particular, the Conservative wing of the R’s, and, low and behold, where do the RINOS go, away from those they courted forever.

  • Scope

    to my post above. I do not agree with 3rd parties, as they do hurt the R candidates, however, from the actions of the NR watever groups, it seems that they are pushing some to that end. If Hoffman wins in NY, the Conservative party brand will gain some prominence, and, more will be willing to back conservative candidates, rather than the moderate R candidates these idiots keep trying to shove down our throats. I call that suicide.

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    Hat tip to Drudge:

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/123854/Conservatives-Maintain-Edge-Top-Ideological-Group.aspx

    Now if they’d only they’d become the “top ideological group in actual grass roots party politics activism as precinct committeemen in the Republican Party.” ;-)

    And then some more good news:

    http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/10/26/democratic_candidates_suffer_from_obama_hangover/

    Thank you.
    ColdWarrior
    www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com

  • antisocial

    http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/26/too-good-to-check-hoffman-leading-in-ny-23/
    ——–
    The poll of 300 likely voters, conducted October 24-25, 2009, shows Conservative Doug Hoffman at 31.3%, Democrat Bill Owens at 27.0%, Republican Dede Scozzafava at 19.7%, and 22% undecided. The poll?s margin of error is +/- 5.66%. No information was provided about any of the candidates prior to the ballot question.
    ——–

  • illinoisconservative

    What does “Conservative” mean in these polls?

    There is a range of conservatism, and for groups at either end of the spectrum there is very little in common.

    You have fiscal conservatives.. you have small government conservatives and you have social conservatives.

    I happen to be a fiscal conservative who wants a much smaller government. I would not be considered a social conservative because I do not believe abortion should be a political issue. For some “conservatives”, that kicks me out of the club. and that’s a really bad thing for political viability, since there are many millions like me who only want their party to concentrate on making our government more efficient and less intrusive.

    So, until I see some kind of definition for “conservative”, a poll like this is interesting, but not very useful as a predictor in elections.

  • illinoisconservative

    I see there are some specifics, although they are not tied to how the conservative/moderate/liberal question was answered.

    Those are definitely good trends especially in regards to size/influence of government.

  • http://www.scottbomb.com scottbomb

    I know a lot of “conservatives” who voted for the big “O” last year.

  • AceInTX

    to pander to 36% who self identify as moderate…and what’s irritating in this is that we’re not chasing after conservative leaning moderates…we’re chasing after the liberal leaning moderates pissing off both Conservatives and conservative leaners in the process!

  • mikefisk

    …but only that.

    Heck, I consider myself a liberal, and I vote Republican most of the time. (Then again, I consider most progressive Democrats to not be liberals, and actually get upset at them for perverting the term.)

  • illinoisconservative

    And I also hope we can keep the issues like takeover of health care, energy taxation and immigration “reform” front and center long enough to be advantageous next year. I would so love to give Obama a Republican Congress for his second two years!

  • Swamp_Yankee

    These types of polls dont mean much to me. Today, a “liberal” is practically a full blown socialist. Its all what people percieve each label to mean.

    They conduct polls like this in Massachusetts. Most people idnentify themselves as” independents” or ” moderates” as well, which means they fall somewhere between a “conservative” (i.e liberal Republican like Bill Weld) and a “liberal” (i.e. radical Cambridge liberal like Skip Gates). But those “moderates” vote “D” every time.

  • olsmithie

    Bush always puzzled me by cozying up to people who would not have urinated on him if he was on fire, yet ,somehow magically, he expected the left would come over to his way of thinking.
    The libs, of course never offered him a cup of water, much less voted for anything he proposed.
    The national Rep loonies seem to share this view.

    Textbook definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome!?

    Regards

  • crosley

    Not to splash cold water on this, but even though conservatives are the top ideological group, we need 51% in order to win an election and implement policy. No matter how fired up you get that 40% of conservative voters, you need to get people outside that group in order to actually win an election.

    Just about every liberal Democrat I know calls themselves a moderate, that way they seem wise and open-minded. So when I see 20% score themselves as liberal, and 36% as moderate, my first instinct is 56% of the population is liberal-leaning. When I see these labels, it’s hard to really to truthfully score them.

    I think the true independent, swing-voters are going to come back to the conservative camp as a result of Obama overreaching, but I don’t think conservatives have a permanent majority. We need to keep converting.

  • http://www.greatrancheswest Soulsamurai

    http://townhall.com/columnists/SalenaZito/2009/10/25/polling_polls_americans_independent_and_irate

    In my opinion, it is not only independents who are becoming increasingly frustrated, but also a significant segment of the Republican base are feeling increasingly disenfranchised by the Republican party and it’s leadership. Many are becoming more independent and sympathetic to more libertarian and/or 3rd party sentiments.

    This trend is dividing the Republican party and causing disunity among all types of conservatives, at a time when we cannot afford to be self-defeating.

    Leaders at every level need to take a closer look at the way people are feeling and do the right thing so that they can develop more trust, and inspire the frustrated and independent-minded people to move back in the right direction. IOW leaders need to become champions of and for the people, they need to rally not for the establishment, but for the concerns of the people and the values they believe in.

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    It was Reagan’s experience, too. He won in landslides because he knew what he believed and believed what he believed. He was, therefore, able to be the “Great Communicator” of conservative principles and ideas.

    We conservatives don’t necessarily need an actual majority within even the Republican Party to end up with a working majority. At my legislative district meetings, I’m pretty sure we may not have an actual majority of conservatives in the ranks. But when it came time to vote for our chairman, a majority voted for the most conservative candidate. Why? Because he, and those supporting him, presented good arguments that swayed some of the moderates. Many of the moderates I know just haven’t taken the time, or are disinclined, to figure out what they actually believe. They are good people with good hearts, but just don’t seem to think too “hard” about most things. But, when they are presented with sound, logical arguments on a subject, they are persuadable. And that’s where we conservatives win. We have sound, logical arguments based on history and experience on all subjects; our moderate adversaries, on the other hand, don’t.

    I am hopeful more and more conservatives will come into the Party as precinct committeemen to fill up all the vacancies. I’m also trying whatever I can think of to convince conservative “activists” to become “active” in the Party as precinct committeeman.

    If we did that en masse immediately we’d have an actual majority of conservatives in the voting ranks of the Party, as HALF the slots are empty and the half that are filled are split about 50-50 between conservatives and moderates. For example, if more conservatives were in the precinct committeeman ranks in NY-23, we wouldn’t be having this Scozzafava problem right now.

    Thank you.

    ColdWarrior
    www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com

  • leehazel

    I am hoarse from shouting at the RNC, RNCC, and the RNSC. These three Republican liberal, establishment, RINO, Rockefeller/Javits holdovers just keep going like the Duracell Rabbit, with just about the same level of intelligence.

    McCain is so far out of the mainstream of Conservative thought that he should leave the party, but instead!!, he wants to remake the party in “his image”? You have got to be kidding.

    Looking back on what went down leading to the 2008 debacle it is really easy to see and understand why as the agencies above and McCain and the MSM and some Democrats found common cause good conservatives like Fred Thompson backed away.

    I firmly believe that Sarah Palin quickly realized she had been hoodwinked by the liberal republican (RINO) cabal. She performed admirably even in “political” pain. This lady should have a say in any conservative movement that goes forward from where we are today. I’ll say without equivication I sure wish she was currently in charge of US Energy Policy. These idiots on both sides of the aisle are leading the US to total disaster if this insane Cap and Trade goes through and the EPA continues with its demonification of Coal and CO2.

    nuff said
    PC is Thought Control
    LEE