Gallup: We Hate to Admit It, but America Is Conservative

Gallup, like virtually every other major polling organization that has looked at the ideological makeup of America, has reported in virtually every poll that conservatives dramatically outnumber liberals in America. Gallup's reports the data on a state-by-state basis, and in all of the Gallup Poll surveys in the last decade, only a tiny handful of states show more respondents as liberal than conservative. Nothing, really, has changed. The Gallup Poll survey conducted at the end of 2015 reports that 47 of the 50 states have more conservatives than liberals, and only three states – Vermont, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts – have more respondents calling themselves liberal than conservative. In two of those three states, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the liberal advantage is tiny.

This is consistent with all past Gallup Poll surveys on this topic. The number of states in which conservatives outnumber liberals has been as low as 47 states and as high as 50 states. This ought to be a very big story, but Gallup, like nearly every other polling organization, tilts left ideologically. As I have noted in prior articles on this subject, the titles Gallup gives to its stories tell it all. Here are the titles Gallup gave to all of its surveys reporting the ideological composition of each of the fifty states. I have included, after the title, the number of states in that particular Gallup survey that reported more conservatives than liberals: "Political ideology: 'Conservative' Label Prevails in the South" (50 conservative states) "Wyoming, Mississippi, Utah Rank as Most Conservative States" (49 conservative states) "Mississippi Ranks as Most Conservative State" (50 conservative states) "Alabama, North Dakota, Wyoming Most Conservative States" (48 conservative states) "Mississippi Most Conservative State, D.C. Most Liberal" (49 conservative states) "Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana Most Conservative States" (47 conservative states) "Red States Outnumber Blue States for the First Time in Gallup Tracking" (47 conservative states) The last item is the title of the most recent Gallup article, the one published on February 3, 2016. Why would Gallup give such bland titles to its surveys – titles that say nothing of the remarkable fact of conservative domination? Except for the latest reported survey, which deals with "blue" and "red" states rather than ideology, readers who skim the title of these articles will see nothing unusual at all. Who would be shocked to learn that North Dakota, Mississippi, Wyoming, Utah, Louisiana, and Alabama are conservative states? If the survey results are true, as Gallup must believe, and every single Gallup Poll on the subject shows the same remarkable demographic fact of overwhelming conservative predominance among the fifty states, then this ought to be very big news – revolutionary news, really. When Gallup surveys have bad news for conservatives, the title of the Gallup article lays it out, like the January 11, 2016 release, "Conservatives Hang On to Ideology Lead but by a Thread." The year before, on January 9, 2015, it was "U.S. Liberals at Record 24% But Still Trail Conservatives." On January 10, 2014, it was "Liberal Self-Identification Edges to New High in 2013." But when the same survey shows very bad news for liberals, like the October 26, 2009 survey announcement, the title is a watered-down "Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group" – for a survey that actually showed conservative self-identification at an all-time high and the gap between conservatives and liberals widening in America. Gallup is no worse – it is, in fact, better – than most other establishment polling organizations. One can at least look at the Gallup data and draw one's own conclusions. Most other polls never reveal demographic information. The data shows that the American people are clearly, consistently, and profoundly conservative, which the establishment obviously knows but wishes were not true. This explains why the establishment hates ballot initiatives but loves federal court decisions and why the establishment brays that politicians whose opinions dovetail with most Americans are, in fact, "extremists." As Republicans decide whom to pick as their nominee, it is not just wise policy, but also smart politics to choose a clear and strong conservative. The last time they did so, in 1984, that nominee carried 49 of the 50 states – just about exactly what the state-by-state Gallup Poll ideological breakdown suggests would happen.