The number of Americans viewing themselves moderate and liberal are rising….
Not a good look for Republicans….
I wonder if Donald Trump understands this?
Or even if Republican lawmakers do?
The movement IS among younger Americans…
Who are the country’s future…
Americans’ ideological bent has shifted in the first half of 2020 with fewer people self-identifying as politically conservative in May and June than at the start of the year. There has been a corresponding increase in self-described liberals while the percentage moderate has been fairly steady.
Line graph. Monthly trend from January to June 2020 in Americans’ self-identified political ideology. Percentage conservative fell from 40% in January/February to 34% by May/June. Percentage liberal increased from 22% to 26% over the same period while percentage moderate was relatively steady near 36%.
In January and February, an average of 40% of Americans identified as politically conservative. This was up from an average of 37% in 2019 and was tied for the highest rate of conservatism Gallup had recorded in the past six years. This coincided with President Donald Trump being acquitted of impeachment charges. It also came amidst strongly positive economic signals in the form of near-record-low unemployment and the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching record highs.
Nevertheless, the percentage of Americans identifying as conservative reverted to an average 37% in March and April as the coronavirus pandemic emerged. It fell further to 34% in May and June as the pandemic has worn on, Trump’s job approval rating has tumbled, and the racial justice movement emerged as a national focus following the death of George Floyd.
Meanwhile, the percentages identifying as liberal increased from an average of 22% in January/February to 26% in May/June.
Gallup measures Americans’ ideology by asking respondents to describe their overall political views as either very conservative, conservative, moderate, liberal or very liberal.
The recent shifts in how Americans conceive of their political views mirror the decline in Republican Party identification — and the corresponding increase in Democratic Party identification — in the first half of 2020.
Conservatism Dips Most Among Middle-Aged, Upper-Income Adults
The decline in self-identified conservatism in 2020 has been seen about evenly among men and women, and among all political party groups.
However, it was more pronounced among adults in upper-income households as well as among middle-aged adults (aged 35 to 54) than their counterparts….
Cotton and Cruz are slowly running out of rightwingnuts….
Since the definition of “conservative “ seems to be dependent on whom one asks?
The significance of this is questionable.
In my view,it simply is part of the declining support for Trump whom, despite the misgivings of some has become the face of “conservatism.”
Some of us have been pointing to the loss of support for the big guy around the edges..
Then there are conservatives like Louis DeJoy, the newly appointed head of USPS and huge Trump donor, who will help Trump rig the postal service to his election advantage by making the USPS unable to process the volume of mail-in ballots expected. The goal is to create the conditions for a contested election. Instead of preparing for this increase in volume, DeJoy has already begun to cut costs and slow mail delivery.
The worry for many months is that this attack on postal services is part of a Republican effort to slow, and perhaps disqualify, the return of ballots (post marked too late). Closing selected post offices could reek havoc.
Does anyone but the most partisan Republican doubt that they will try this if they can figure out a way to target blue voting areas?
Oh, it seems David Perdue has gone was anti-Semitic tropes by making his Jewish opponent’s nose look bigger in an on-line ad.
The same David Perdue who attacked Obama over Ebola (four dead) and praises Trump over the virus (150,000 dead).
This is going to be a monumental rig. In 2016, Trump only had the resources of the Russian state at his disposal. Now he can employ all the levers of the U.S. government bureaucracy. The Republican party machine is also putting its full weight and resources behind this effort to close polling stations, intimidate voters with poll “workers”, shed voters from voting rolls, challenge mail-in ballots, claim fictitious voter and mail fraud. And the FEC has been completely politicized by Trump.
The Republican party is so desperate to hold on to power it will not disqualify any tactic or effort to undermine confidence in the November election.
It’s 2020. Conspiracy theories- everybody’s got ’em.
Poor snowflake.
The idea that the Trump Administration would seek to illegally seek to influence the outcome of the November is not a theory, they are already doing so in very obvious ways. For example, Bill Barr just told a House Committee that mail-in ballots are subject to massive fraud, developing a line of propaganda without proof, as his boss does at every opportunity.
Trump’s ongoing attack on the Postal Services should give everyone pause that his lackey at the head of that organization will seek to disrupt the delivery of mail-in ballots.
The election will be held. The people will have their say. Trump is likely to lose. Both sides will have to accept the result.