Balance of political views among Americans remains stable

The prestigious Pew Research Center issued a report that indicates Americans remain virtually unchanged — in terms of percentages — in their political ideology.

Democrats and Republicans remain largely liberal and conservative, respectively. The breakdown among independents is interesting, with 45 percent describing their politics as moderate, 30 percent as conservative and 20 percent liberal.

Other notes in the Pew report include:

“The Democratic Party’s advantage in party identification has widened over the past two decades, but the share of Americans who describe their political views as liberal, conservative or moderate has remained stable during the same period. Only about one-in-five Americans currently call themselves liberal (21%), while 38% say they are conservative and 36% describe themselves as moderate. This is virtually unchanged from recent years; when George W. Bush was first elected president, 18% of Americans said they were liberal, 36% were conservative and 38% considered themselves moderate.”

“Yet, even within ideological groups there are disagreements over major issues. Liberals are divided in their views of offshore drilling — 49% favor and 48% oppose allowing more oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters as a way to address America’s energy needs.
Conservatives are about equally split when it comes to the U.S. government guaranteeing health insurance for all citizens. Half of those who describe their political views as conservative favor government-backed insurance even if it means raising taxes, while 47% oppose it.”