Story highlights
- 38% say they are conservative on social issues, up from 33% last year
- Highest percentage of respondents say they are socially conservative since 2012
- 44% say they are financially conservative, also the highest since 2012
WASHINGTON, D.C. — More Americans (38%) say they are very conservative or conservative on social issues this year than in 2022 (33%) and 2021 (30%). At the same time, the proportion who say their social views are very liberal or liberal has fallen over the past two years from 34% to 29%, respectively, while the proportion who say they are moderate (31%) has declined. It remains close to one-third.
The last time this many Americans said they were socially conservative was in 2012, when American adults consistently identified as more conservative than liberal on social issues. There were many.
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The results are based on Gallup’s annual Values āāand Beliefs Survey, conducted May 1-24. The study comes at a time when many states are considering policies regarding transgender issues, abortion, crime, drug use, and gender and sexuality education in schools.
Over the past two years, increases in conservative perceptions of social issues have been seen across nearly every political and demographic subgroup. Republicans have seen the biggest increase, from 60% in 2021 to 74% now. Independents saw a modest 5-point increase from 24% to 29%, but there was no change among Democrats (10% in both 2021 and 2023).
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Since 2021, there has been a double-digit increase in conservative social ideology among middle-aged adults ages 30 to 64. At the same time, older Americans’ ideology on social issues has remained stable, but there has been a slight increase in conservative social ideology among younger Americans.
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Economic conservatism is also on the rise
When Americans are asked about their views on economic issues, 44% say they are very conservative or conservative, 33% are moderate, and 21% are very liberal or liberal. The average percentage of respondents who said they were conservative from 2020 to 2022 was 40%. The current figure is the highest since 2012, when it was 46%.
Americans are consistently more likely to say they are conservative than liberal on economic issues, by at least 16 percentage points in 2021.
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During the polling field period, President Joe Biden and Congress debated legislation to raise the federal debt ceiling and cut federal spending.
Americans are more likely to identify as economically conservative rather than liberal because Republicans overwhelmingly claim to be conservative, while Democrats are overwhelmingly less liberal. In 2023, 79% of Republicans identify as conservative on economic issues, compared to 48% of Democrats who identify as liberal. Additionally, more independents identify as economic conservatives (36%) than liberals (16%). About half of independents say they are moderate on economic issues.
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Partisan ideology on economic issues has stabilized in recent years. The modest shift in economic ideology among the nation’s adults is instead driven by a modest shift in party identification among U.S. adults (on average 29% Republican in 2020 and 2021 surveys, 32% % were Democrats, but in the 2023 survey, 30% were Republicans and 29% were Democrats).
conclusion
For most of the past eight years, Americans have been about equally likely to say they are liberal or conservative on social issues. This year, there is a clearer conservative advantage. This shift is largely due to rising social conservatism among Republicans as social issues such as transgender rights, abortion, and other hot-button issues become more prominent in the national debate. This is due to the fact that
Rising social conservatism, especially in Republican-dominated states, may be creating an environment favorable to the passage of conservative-leaning social legislation. In fact, in the past year, many Republican states have passed stricter restrictions on abortion, limited transgender youth’s options in sports participation and medical care, and banned topics that can be discussed in classrooms.
Americans are still more likely to say they are conservative on economic issues. When asked to describe their overall political views without mentioning social or economic issues, 40% had conservative views, 31% had moderate views, and 26% had liberal views. I said yes. Therefore, the overall ideological identification is less conservative than economic issues, but more conservative than social issues, although the numbers are closer to social issues.
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Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.
View complete question answers and trends (PDF download).
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