Dividing People into ’Liberals,’ ’Moderates’ and ’Conservatives’ – Too Simplistic?
Assessing the value of using the labels “moderate,” “liberal” and “conservative” to describe the electorate.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Assessing the value of using the labels “moderate,” “liberal” and “conservative” to describe the electorate.
The Iowa caucuses produced six small but significant indicators of the dynamics that drove the race.
Two years ahead of the next presidential election, the public is divided (47% yes, 42% no ) over whether Barack Obama should run for a second term. However, this is better than the outlook for Ronald Reagan in August 1982
For the first time in 15 years of Pew Research Center polling, fewer than half oppose same-sex marriage, though, support (42%) remains below opposition (48%). The shift in favor of gay marriage has been broad-based, occurring across many demographic, political and religious groups.
His approval has slipped, but is not much different from where Reagan stood at this point in his term. But the public’s conservative shift could be trouble for the president.
With fully a quarter of the U.S. adult population now relying solely on cell phone service, pollsters and other survey researchers face a difficult decision as to whether to include cell phones in their samples. A joint study by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Internet & American Life Project takes an up-to-date look at the potential biases in findings based on landline-only surveys.
Still, ideological labels don’t always predict policy opinions; e.g.,about half of self-described conservatives say that all or some of the Bush tax cuts should be repealed while many liberals support off-shore drilling.
For Democratic candidates, the decisive factors in Iowa and New Hampshire are personal and tactical; for GOP contestants, however, the ultimate outcome may be decided by the relative strength of newly combative ideological elements.
As the ’08 elections approach, what are the views of Republicans, Democrats and the general public on “social values” issues? And how have they changed over time?
A review of recent polling reveals that on most — though not all issues — the candidates are in tune with the majority of Republicans, but somewhat at odds with the broader public.
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