Republicans’ and Democrats’ ideology most extreme in decades: Gallup
Ideologies among Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. are at the most extreme level in decades, according to a survey published Thursday.
The Gallup poll found that political party identifications held steady in 2024, but the data shows that over time, voters became more partisan and less moderate.
According to the survey, 37 percent of respondents described themselves as very conservative or conservative, while 34 percent said they were moderate. Just 25 percent of people said they were very liberal or liberal.
The percentage of Americans who identify as moderate has dropped from 43 percent in 1992 to 34 percent in 2024, marking a shift from centrist ideologies. Conservatism, however, has been fairly steady over the three decades and has an average percentage of 38, the pollster notes.
Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans who identify as liberal increased from 17 percent in 1992 to 25 percent in 2016. That number has remained at nearly the same level in the years since.
Gallup added that Republicans have always been likely to also identify as conservative. In 2024, however, 77 percent described themselves that way — marking a new high by 2 percentage points, and a 4-point increase since 2023. Just shy of a quarter of the Republican respondents described themselves as very conservative, a new high as well.
Out of respondents who identify as Democrats, more than half also label themselves as liberal and 19 percent as very liberal, the highest reading for the group. Democrats’ liberal identification has more than doubled over the past three decades, the survey found.
Most independents remained consistent in the latest poll, identifying as moderate.
While political polarization may seem at an all-time high, Gallup’s survey results found there has been little change in the overall landscape. Over the past few years, the largest shifts have been intraparty — voters within the Democratic Party or GOP becoming more polarized.
“As partisans have become increasingly polarized ideologically, so too have the candidates elected to public office representing those parties,” Gallup researchers wrote. “That leaves less room for across-the-aisle negotiation on key issues between the two parties in federal and state government.”
The survey was conducted throughout 2024 among a sample of 14,162 adults in the U.S. The margin of error was 1 percentage point.