Conservatives out-number libs 2-1 in America. So, why do conservatives keep abandoning Republican governments?

Question

Why do Conservatives keep joining forces with the minority liberal population to bring in Democratic governments?

"LIBERAL AMERICA?....James Joyner reports today on a new Gallup poll showing that the number of Americans who self-identify as conservative is twice the number who self-identify as liberal"

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_03/010893.php

"A key finding: when people are asked to describe themselves in terms of ideology, self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals by a margin of nearly two to one."

http://www.newsobserver.com/1110/story/487133.html

Argle and cps, you're both qualifying "conservative" according to some personal and arbitrary gauge. I think we should let people decide for themselves what that term means, and whether it's meaningful for them.

Answer 1

Because moderate Republicans are obviously disgusted with the BUSH administration.
Four States ...so called Red States that went for Bush in 2004 elections switched to Democrat in midterms
Missouri
Montana
Ohio
Virginia
People are just fed up with BUSH and the WAR OF AGGRESSION he incited with LIES he contrived in order to exploit Americas fears.

Answer 2

Those links were not clear as to how this poll was conducted. Simply doing a word search of "liberal" and "conservative" in one publication does not constitute a poll. It would have to be a lengthy list of questions to be even remotely close. Plus, what many people say is not the same as what they do. For instance, a liberal might say "universal health care is the way to go." Then when he goes to the voting both where the option is to increase HIS taxes by 10%, he'll vote no. I've met many people who claim to be on one side but their actions say differently. A better poll is to ask questions about people's past behavior to distinguish their side of the political spectrum.

EDIT: Lamp...you are implying consertives conceptually favor republicans. True conservatives are disenchanted with the modern GOP. Look at the Perot effect. Enough conservatives voted for him which split the republican vote. Hence, Clinton became president.

Answer 3

That's a great question!
Deep down, most Americans love freedom.
We want that more than anything.

Oh, we don't want anyone else taking away our freedoms, so Afghanistan got it for sheltering and supporting Osama, and Saddam got it for attacking other nations (Kuwait, Israel) and trying to assassinate our President.

But when we have doubts about our own President, we are TEN TIMES AS RUTHLESS, at least with what we say.

Fortunately, unlike many other societies, our words don't mean we automatically go gunning. We love peace as well.

Democrats traditionally have represented both, and liberals now dominate the democratic party (along with a strong socialist influence). Voting for democrats while in doubt of our freedoms seems a natural choice.

I hope we never lose that reputation.

Answer 4

This poll is misleading. If you talk to people, more will agree more with "liberal" policies than conservative ones. What the problem is the perception of the word "liberal." The meaning of this word has changed very much over the past few years. It used to mean "free," usually associated with free markets (now a republican issue). Now it is equated with "socialism" or "communism" which in our society is associated with "evil." The language is very powerful. That's why so many liberals now call themselves "progressive," although the right tries to brand that term as negative too. When you add moderates + liberals, they far outnumber conservatives - which indicates that conservatives need to compromise.

Answer 5

The self identified "conservatives" are confused as to what it actually means - when you look at what they support - they are certainly not cons;

"This is especially interesting considering that the public seems to continue to demand liberal policies, opposing even nominal market-based reform of Social Security, continuing to push for the socialization of health care, expecting instant bail-outs for poor financial decisions, and generally wanting more federal spending on a variety of social programs."

Conservatives are a majority in name only.

Answer 6

I really don't agree with the 2-1 finding, unless maybe only 50% of the total identified themselves as cons while 25% identified themselves as libs, leaving 25% that didn't identify with either (fence sitters). In that case, your theory that Cons 'abandon' the Republican party is a falacy.

Answer 7

Do you mean Democrat party govts? The Republican govt under W. Bush has failed miserably and they deserved to be rejected. It will take a miracle to prevent an Dimocrat sweep of Congress and the presidency in 2008. God help us if that happens!

Answer 8

The Republican party is abandoning the Conservatives not the other way around. That is why I am not a Constitutional Party member.

Answer 9

thanks for the laugh.

i think you have confused the 'words' liberal and conservative with how people actually feel.

since the word conservative has not had a concerted effort to have the name associated with extremely negative things, very few people have mixed feelings about 'calling' themselves conservatives.

the same cannot be said for the word liberal.

if only elections were decided by empty headed propagandists.

they are not - they are decided by the american people, the vast majority of whom cannot be strictly defined as conservative OR liberal.

Answer 10

Republicans are abandoning conservatives...sorry.

Rudy...NOT A CONSERVATIVE
McCain...NOT A CONSERVATIVE...well maybe today, but who knows tomorrow.
1/2 of the republicans in Congress are abandoning Conservative values.

Get a TRUE conservative to get the nomination, and they will win by a landslide, but Rudy is winning in most polls. That will not cut it.