A Gallup Poll released today shows that Americans who self identify as "conservative" far outnumber liberals in this country. The poll shows 40% who identify as conservative, 35% who identify as moderate and 21% who identify as liberal. This is surprising since many news and blog sources have tried to convince us for years that conservatism is dead. (For example, take a look at this Daily KOS opinion.)
Breaking down the ideological split into smaller categories, Gallup shows us this:
The fewer numbers of those on the extremes are to be expected, although we see that very conservative Americans still outnumber the very liberal by about two to one. According to Gallup, these numbers have not significantly changed over the past decade, although Gallup points out that there are fewer moderate Americans because more are taking sides than in previous years.
The problem, as I see it, is that while conservatives may represent a significant and majority part of the population, we have no political party to represent us. The Republican party seems to have left its conservative base, even though 73% of Republicans self identify as conservative. The disconnect between party and ideology was one of the reasons Republicans fared so poorly in the last election. The Libertarian party is too extreme to attract the moderates and thus is not yet a political force. There is no functioning Independent party that represents true conservatism.
This means we are left for the time being with one party rule, the Democrats, who have placed in power a president and representatives who lean way to the left on most issues, political, social and economic. Democrats appeal to the liberal left and some moderates but fail to represent the majority of Americans.
Our quest, then, as conservatives, is to gain back the political power and once again represent the American people as we are, not as Obama and Pelosi wish us to be.
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