Interesting date from the latest IPSOS poll. Although the poll's sample was heavily weighted toward Demcrats - the poll sample was 541 Democrats and 346 Republicans - more people rated themselves as "conservative" than as liberal.
Does that mean Democrats still run from the "liberal" label, or that a lot of folks who vote for Democrats actually lean conservative? Perhaps both... but either way that's good news for conservative Republicans.
Ipsos asked, "Do you consider yourself a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent or none of these?" and 22 percent said "Republican," 36 percent said "Democrat," 25 percent said "independent," 16 percent said "none of these" and 1 percent were unsure.Ipsos then asked, "Generally speaking, do you consider yourself a liberal, moderate or conservative?," and followed up by asking if they were "very" or "somewhat" liberal or conservative. Only 10 percent described themselves as "very liberal," while 14 percent said they were "very conservative." 16 percent said they were "somewhat liberal," 22 percent said they were "somewhat conservative," while 35 percent described themselves as "moderate", and three percent refused to answer. In all, 26 percent of the respondents characterized themselves as liberal while 36 percent said they were conservative.
My sense is that the nation still leans more conservative than liberal politically, and the reason that Republican party identification is so low is that, at the national level, the Republican Party has not governed from conservative principles. A presidential candidate and congressional candidates who articulate conservative principles should still appeal to more of the electorate than candidates who espouse liberal principles.
That's the good news for true-conservative Republicans, especially conservative Republicans who have a demonstrated ability to appeal to moderates as well, the way Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s.
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