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Conservatives Finish 2009 as No. 1 Ideological Group [due mainly to conservative Independents]
Gallup ^ | January 7, 2009 | Lydia Saad

Posted on 01/07/2010 7:18:21 AM PST by EternalVigilance

Uptick owing largely to more independents calling themselves conservative

by Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ -- The increased conservatism that Gallup first identified among Americans last June persisted throughout the year, so that the final year-end political ideology figures confirm Gallup's initial reporting: conservatives (40%) outnumbered both moderates (36%) and liberals (21%) across the nation in 2009.

More broadly, the percentage of Americans calling themselves either conservative or liberal has increased over the last decade, while the percentage of moderates has declined.

Political Ideology -- Annual Trends From 1992-2009

Since 1992, there have been only two other years -- 2003 and 2004 -- in which the average percentage of conservatives nationwide outnumbered moderates, and in both cases, it was by two percentage points (in contrast to the current four points).

"The proportion of independents calling themselves "moderate" held relatively steady in the mid-40s over the last decade, while the proportion of Republican and Democratic moderates dwindled."

The rather abrupt three-point increase between 2008 and 2009 in the percentage of Americans calling themselves conservative is largely owing to an increase -- from 30% to 35% -- in the percentage of political independents adopting the label. Over the same period, there was only a slight increase in professed conservatism among Republicans (from 70% to 71%) and no change among Democrats (at 21%).

Recent Trend in Percentage Identifying as Conservative -- by Party ID

The 2009 findings come from an aggregate of 21 separate Gallup and USA Today/Gallup surveys, including nearly 22,000 interviews. The 1992 to 2008 trends also represent thousands of interviews compiled for each year. Thus, the margins of sampling error around the individual estimates are less than one percentage point.

(Excerpt) Read more at gallup.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News
KEYWORDS: 2009polls; conservative; conservatives; gallup; independent; topten
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1 posted on 01/07/2010 7:18:22 AM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: EternalVigilance

You beat me by a minute!

And I don’t know how to post pictures, you stinker! heh

Good news, eh?

:)


2 posted on 01/07/2010 7:21:08 AM PST by Daisyjane69 (Michael Reagan: "Welcome back, Dad, even if you're wearing a dress and bearing children this time)
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To: Daisyjane69

It is! :-)


3 posted on 01/07/2010 7:24:13 AM PST by EternalVigilance (With God, Obama can't hurt us. Without God, George Washington couldn't save us.)
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To: EternalVigilance
Now translate that into votes for Sarah Palin.
4 posted on 01/07/2010 7:25:00 AM PST by Cheetahcat (Zero the Wright kind of Racist! We are in a state of War with Democrats)
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To: EternalVigilance

This advertisement is by the Party Chairman for the Alan Keyes vanity party.

They campaign against Governor Palin and the republican party, they hope that they can derail any GOP gains in 2010, or at least soften the blow that the democrat party may suffer, the Party Chairman (eternalvigilance) will be here trying to soften and dilute any momentum that conservative republicans can muster against Obama, and especially any support for Sarah Palin, who Alan Keyes does not want to run against.


5 posted on 01/07/2010 7:26:59 AM PST by ansel12 (anti SoCon. Earl Warren's court 1953-1969, libertarian hero, anti social conservative loser.)
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To: Cheetahcat

Not me.

I want to translate it into millions of informed Americans who will do their duty as citizens, and thousands of candidates for public office who will do their sworn duty to uphold and defend our Constitution.


6 posted on 01/07/2010 7:28:51 AM PST by EternalVigilance (With God, Obama can't hurt us. Without God, George Washington couldn't save us.)
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To: ansel12

This is an article from Gallup. Ever heard of them?


7 posted on 01/07/2010 7:29:54 AM PST by EternalVigilance (With God, Obama can't hurt us. Without God, George Washington couldn't save us.)
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To: EternalVigilance
I did some baseline stat analysis on the data earlier this morning, and here's what we see:

Conservatives: y = 0.0949x - 151.93, R2 = 0.168

Moderates: y = -0.2848x + 609.02, R2 = 0.769

Liberals: y = 0.2993x - 579.59, R2 = 0.778

That's a problem. This means that, for whatever reason, the percentage of liberals is growing at a higher rate than the percentage of conservatives AND that liberal growth is more consistent than that of conservatives. Given the data, I suspect that a lot of it is due to "moderates" becoming more willing to self-identify as "liberals," but who knows? It could indicate a trend of tridentate shift across the spectrum, too.

8 posted on 01/07/2010 7:30:56 AM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus ("A politician who is poor is a poor politician." - Hank Gonzales)
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To: ansel12

By the way, as usual, your post/personal attack is a complete misrepresentation of what AIP is.


9 posted on 01/07/2010 7:31:26 AM PST by EternalVigilance (With God, Obama can't hurt us. Without God, George Washington couldn't save us.)
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

Interesting.


10 posted on 01/07/2010 7:32:13 AM PST by EternalVigilance (With God, Obama can't hurt us. Without God, George Washington couldn't save us.)
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To: ansel12; EternalVigilance
This advertisement is by the Party Chairman for the Alan Keyes vanity party.

You're wasting your keystrokes. For some folks, it's easier and more satisfying to chase fairy tales in the clouds than it is to do the hard work on the ground of uniting conservatives and retaking the GOP.

11 posted on 01/07/2010 7:33:19 AM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus ("A politician who is poor is a poor politician." - Hank Gonzales)
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To: EternalVigilance

As Party Chairman you should have recognized that I was addressing the advertisement that you posted for the anti republican/very anti Palin party, that you chair. Read my post again.


12 posted on 01/07/2010 7:34:15 AM PST by ansel12 (anti SoCon. Earl Warren's court 1953-1969, libertarian hero, anti social conservative loser.)
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To: EternalVigilance

As usual you started lying right off the bat, where was a personal attack? Are you the party chairman for Alan Keyes or not?


13 posted on 01/07/2010 7:36:16 AM PST by ansel12 (anti SoCon. Earl Warren's court 1953-1969, libertarian hero, anti social conservative loser.)
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To: EternalVigilance

I already emailed this to the:

Sweetieformerlyknownasaleftwingnutjob

Took me a couple years to straighten him out. Almost didn’t survive our first phone call; he was a teacher. I blasted him on school choice. It’s all good; first phone call ended up lasting 6 hours. And he called back after sleeping for two hours. heh

Now, he feels like the only conservative in Chicago, poor thing. I keep telling him he is in the majority but he had his doubts.

Just when I thought he might give up the ghost (you guys don’t understand how rotten libs are...they shun/smite you if you stray off the reservation) he calmly announces this:

“Sweetie, I’ve joined up with the conservative guys I went to high school with. They’re going to come up with a name for the group, we are going to decide policy positions and SOME OF US ARE GOING TO RUN FOR OFFICE.”

yikes

*gasp*

*runs down hall*

*grabs rosary and starts praying*

*looks up and says “You sure ‘bout this, Lord?”*

:)


14 posted on 01/07/2010 7:36:28 AM PST by Daisyjane69 (Michael Reagan: "Welcome back, Dad, even if you're wearing a dress and bearing children this time)
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To: Steve Schulin; Gelato; Taxman; joanie-f; Delphinium; MountainFlower; Jeff Head

Nearly two years ago we set as one of our strategic goals the changing of the definition in the modern political vernacular of what an Independent is.

Here is proof that we have succeeded in our efforts so far in a statistically significant way.


15 posted on 01/07/2010 7:36:28 AM PST by EternalVigilance (With God, Obama can't hurt us. Without God, George Washington couldn't save us.)
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To: ansel12
As usual you started lying right off the bat, where was a personal attack? Are you the party chairman for Alan Keyes or not?

No, I'm not "the party chairman for Alan Keyes." I'm the party chairman of America's Independent Party.

16 posted on 01/07/2010 7:38:39 AM PST by EternalVigilance (With God, Obama can't hurt us. Without God, George Washington couldn't save us.)
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To: EternalVigilance

I would like to see the questions, because I believe they are designed to make it look like there are fewer conservatives than there actually are.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/08/the_biggest_missing_story_in_p.html talks about the Battleground poll which as had consistent results for a decade.

Very Conservative: 20%
Somewhat Conservative: 40%
Moderate 2%
Somewhat Liberal: 27%
Very Liberal: 9%

That’s 60% conservative, 36% liberal, and 2% moderate.

My guess is the Gallup poll questions are worded to give people the impression the only choices are very conservative, moderate, or very liberal.


17 posted on 01/07/2010 7:40:38 AM PST by Brookhaven
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To: EternalVigilance

Alan Keyes ran in I think, two different party primaries in 2008 and lost both times of course, neither party wanted him.

Alan Keyes decided to form his own party with you as his chairman and he ran as your party’s presidential candidate, winning about 47,500 votes, didn’t he?


18 posted on 01/07/2010 7:42:23 AM PST by ansel12 (anti SoCon. Earl Warren's court 1953-1969, libertarian hero, anti social conservative loser.)
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

If you want to “retake the GOP,” I’m certainly not stopping you. We support true conservatives no matter what their party registration or label might be.


19 posted on 01/07/2010 7:43:02 AM PST by EternalVigilance (With God, Obama can't hurt us. Without God, George Washington couldn't save us.)
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To: EternalVigilance; Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus
If you want to “retake the GOP,” I’m certainly not stopping you. We support true conservatives no matter what their party registration or label might be.

Yet one of your biggest efforts here is to stop Governor Palin from winning the GOP nomination.

20 posted on 01/07/2010 7:45:57 AM PST by ansel12 (anti SoCon. Earl Warren's court 1953-1969, libertarian hero, anti social conservative loser.)
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