60% of Americans consider themselves conservative

Updated

The Battleground Poll asks the question -

"When thinking about politics and government, do you consider yourself to be...

Very conservative

Somewhat conservative

moderate

Somewhat liberal

Very liberal

unsure/refused"

and the results may surprise a lot of people:

In August 2008, Americans answered that question this way: (1) 20% of Americans considered themselves to be very conservative; (2) 40% of Americans considered themselves to be somewhat conservative; (3) 2% of Americans considered themselves to be moderate; (4) 27% of Americans considered themselves to be somewhat liberal; (5) 9% of Americans considered themselves to be very liberal; and (6) 3% of Americans did not know or refused to answer.

Sixty percent of Americans considered themselves conservative. Does this mean that most Americans do not know what "conservative" means? No: The question specifically provides an out to people who are not sure about their ideology; it provides an out to people who want to be considered "moderate." Americans reject those choices. They overwhelmingly define themselves as "conservative." This is a huge political story - except that it is not "new" at all. Look at the thirteen Battleground Poll results over the last six years, and how do Americans answer that very question? Here are the percentages of Americans in those polls who call themselves "conservative" since June 2002: 59% (June 2002 poll), 59% (September 2003 poll), 61% (April 2004 poll), 59% (June 2004 poll), 60% (September 2004 poll), 61% (October 2005 poll), 59% (March 2006), 61% (October 2006), 59% (January 2007), 63% (July 2007), 58% (December 2007), 63% (May 2008), and now 60% (August 2008.)

source

h/t Maggies Farm

Update 8/25/08 1141 - Rush Limbaugh picked up this story while I was on my way into work and his take is that all John McCain needs to do is appeal to conservatives and the election is won.

My take is that Rush is wrong. Why? Because of the electoral college. 60% of the population may be conservative but the majority of states with high electoral votes tend to go liberal at elections.

What we really need is for the battleground poll to be conducted on about 10,000 people weighed by zipcode or area code so the areas with the highest number of representatives get the most people polled that would, in my opinion give a much more accurate account of the electoral college map.