[EternalVigilance]

It's because many people who self-identify as conservative when asked the simple question like the sound of the word conservatism but if confronted with the actual issues one by one they would run screaming in the other direction.

I disagree. I think if conservatism is explained properly in terms of America's founding principles, there are a majority of citizens in every state who still agree with those principles. The problem is that they haven't had political leaders who actually understand and believe in them.

[firebrand]

But when the poll you are citing was conducted, conservatism wasn't explained to them. They were asked an oversimplified question and picked the answer that made them feel best about themselves. Same with all the people who said they were "pro-life" when asked in too simple a form. Everyone was rejoicing at the 51% but when the poll participants are asked more specifically what they believe in, it is no 51%.

Still, as I said at the time, I think it is an encouraging trend that more people want to think of themselves as conservative or pro-life. They are somewhere on the spectrum--moving in the right direction, one would hope.

Of course if each conservative idea were presented to them with a correct explanation, then the answers might be different and more positive toward conservatism. But that doesn't happen when a polltaker just asks a question.