When you hear the comment, "We are a center right nation," here is the reason why.

Editor's notes: even after the '08 election, the nation remained a "centered right" country. By that we mean to reference a Gallup poll, taken year after year, showing the nation sitting at a typical percentage of 38% "conservative" and 17% "liberal. This is perhaps the most consistent set of polling numbers in American polling results. The numbers do not vary more than 5 points from either demarcation. Understand that this result concerns itself with folks identifying with "conservative" and "liberal" without regard to party affiliation. The most recent finding equals 42% conservative and 19% liberal. If you follow our link back to the original text, the story found there seems to imply this circumstance to be rather recent instead of the 50 year pattern that it is. Approximately 40% of those polled are "moderates" or folks who have no preference. Liberals win elections on the occasions their campaign message appeals to the moderate voter and those who are rather dispassionate conservatives. We make note that the Gallup poll is only 20 years old but other polling firms have taken this measure for decades. What is note worthy is the fact that this particular poll shows "conservatives" outnumbering the uncommitted for the first time, by a point or two.

by Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ -- Conservatives have maintained their leading position among U.S. ideological groups in the first half of 2010. Gallup finds 42% of Americans describing themselves as either very conservative or conservative. This is up slightly from the 40% seen for all of 2009 and contrasts with the 20% calling themselves liberal or very liberal.

The 2010 results are based on eight Gallup and USA Today/Gallup surveys conducted from January through June, encompassing interviews with more than 8,000 U.S. adults. The 42% identifying as conservative represents a continuation of the slight but statistically significant edge conservatives achieved over moderates in 2009. Should that figure hold for all of 2010, it would represent the highest annual percentage identifying as conservative in Gallup's history of measuring ideology with this wording, dating to 1992.

The recent rise in conservatism's fortunes follows a decline seen after 2003; liberalism has experienced the opposite pattern. From 1993 to 2002, the ideological trend had been fairly stable, with roughly 40% identifying as moderate, 38% as conservative, and 19% as liberal. Before that, the presidential bid of independent candidate Ross Perot may have contributed to a heightened proportion of Americans (43%) calling themselves moderate in 1992. READ MORE >>>>>