Morning Consult reports five years of data from more than 8.6 million participants. This shows that America’s registered voters are moving steadily to the ideological right.
Morning Consult research has shown that the left is losing the battle to win the minds of Americans, with voters identifying themselves as more liberal in recent years,” reports Eli Yokley, Morning Consult political reporter. “But this doesn’t necessarily mean that the country is moving to the right.”
Yokley makes an attempt to pretend that the trend isn’t as it appears: “Instead of an increase in Americans who identify themselves as moderate or who are unsure about their position on the ideological spectrum, it reveals a growing electorally decisive center that is discontent with either side’s extremes.”
But, the proportion of conservative voters actually increased, and only those who consider themselves liberal fell. It sounds crazy, but it seems that Democrats are moving away from extreme-left ideology in favor of becoming more moderate.
According to Morning Consult research, 34% to 27% of voters have identified themselves as “very liberal”, “liberal” or somewhat liberal over the past five years. This is based on extensive Morning Consult surveys that were conducted among more than 8.6 million U.S. citizens since 2017.
Yokley writes that “Even though Democratic voters are moving toward the center, the data show that Republican Party adherents shift further to the left — and it’s happening fast.”
Or, to put it another manner, the entire country is moving in a direction that is right.
This trend coincides with the largest number of people falling into the conservative camp — 39% by 2022, compared to 38% in 2017. The liberal cadre has fallen from 34% in 2017 at its peak to 27% now. The results are 27% and 35% respectively for moderates and people who don’t know their stuff today.
The intensity is also ours to the right.
The share of Republicans who identified as conservative rose from 70% to 77% during the same period that the Democrats’ share fell from 60% to 55%. A further fact is that Republican voters (32%) are more likely than Democrats (19%) to identify themselves as “very conservative”.
Here is a screenshot of the overall poll results and the breakdown for 2022. But I highly recommend you visit the original, which is interactive and much more fun if that’s what you like.
Let me tell you, it’s also fun to watch minority demographics take for granted that Democrats have won every election in the past five years.
Black and Hispanic voters who identity as liberal declined by double digits since 2017
% who identity as liberal:
Black voters in 2017 – 54%
Black voters in 2022 – 32% (-22)Hispanic voters in 2017 – 55%
Hispanic voters in 2022 – 37% (-18)https://t.co/P4EjTWa2CP pic.twitter.com/LLgOWMzr3q— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) August 19, 2022
It’s possible that Democrats don’t really become more moderate. They’re just remaining where they were, shaking their heads as their party swerves leftward in the throes of a virulent wake infection. This would explain why Republicans aren’t always the most popular party year after year, even though they have the largest voting bloc.
Regardless, I believe that the Democrat party is losing its identity even among its members.
