Are there more conservatives than liberals

Newsletters Donate My Account. Research Topics. Research Areas U. Surveys suggest that today's adults aren't much different than those 80s kids. A Pew Research Center study from showed that liberals were more likely than social conservatives to describe themselves as compassionate, trusting, upbeat, and optimistic, while conservatives were more likely to say they were people of honor, duty, religion, and proud to be American. The self-reports go along with research from that suggested liberals' top moral concerns tend to be about compassion and fairness, while conservatives are more concerned with loyalty, tradition, respect for authority, and purity.

One study found that conservative students were often better at focusing their attention on a cognitive task called the Stroop color and word test. The common psychological study tool asks participants to quickly name the correct color of a word that's written on a different color background.

In the study, conservative students seemed to correctly answer the color questions faster than their liberal peers. The researchers think that's because the conservatives were more likely to believe in the concept of self-control. But the conservatives didn't always out-perform the liberals. When they were told that their free will might undermine their own self-control, they performed worse than their liberal peers.

New research finds that conservatives tend to express compassion to smaller social circles than liberals. For example, conservative voters were found to be more likely to agree with statements like: "I often have tender, concerned feelings for my family members who are less fortunate than me. Liberals, on the other hand, were more likely to feel that same level of compassion for people around the world, and even to non-human and imaginary subjects like animals and aliens.

Researchers at the University of Southern California conducted a study in hinging on the theory that conservatives tend to be more satisfied in life than liberals. The study complied data on thousands of people in 16 different countries around the world over four decades, and found that conservatives, overall, reported feeling greater meaning and purpose in life. The study also found greater satisfaction in life was related more closely to social conservatism, rather than economically conservative views.

For example, Trump supporters may share more in common with the president's personal and professional values than his policies. A survey of 1, people conducted on the internet in March revealed that Trump supporters were more likely to connect with his overall personality and outlook on money than they were to support his politics. The survey respondents tended to agree with statements like "people who are poor just need to work harder" and "vacations are for weaklings," while disagreeing with statements like "I try to stay out of the spotlight" and "I don't like to gamble.

The study authors said these kinds of personal values were better predictors of support for then-candidate Trump than party affiliations or political ideologies.

The researchers think these perceptions of shared values between candidates and constituents probably play into everyone's voting behavior, not just that of Trump's supporters. A longitudinal study of more than 16, people in the UK found that those who were more aggressive as youngsters when they were years old became more economically liberal and mistrusting of the government as adults in their early 30s.

A study by researchers at Stanford University found liberals and conservatives both think they judge people of all political backgrounds equally for their actions, based on their moral codes. However, the findings suggested that while liberals and conversations may both think they are applying their judgment equally, they each tend to judge members of their own ideology more favorably than others. Jan Voelkel and Dr. Mark Brandt told PsyPost. Update: This story was originally published in It has been updated with new research.

Though some people form their political beliefs early in life and stick with them, most of us follow a predictable and durable pattern: our political beliefs steadily become more conservative as we age, no matter what generation we belong to or what era we grew up in, the research finds.

But this makes it difficult to determine if differences are due to age or the times young and old people have lived through, an issue known as the cohort conundrum.

The average American was more likely to identify as politically liberal at age 25 but more likely to be conservative 20 years later. Self-reported data about political ideologies in the US can be found in the General Social Survey, run by the nonpartisan and objective research organization NORC at the University of Chicago and conducted either annually or biennially, depending on the timing.

Since the GSS polls different, randomly selected Americans during each iteration, Peltzman created synthetic cohorts of respondents. Liberals and conservatives disagree over where they want to live, the kind of people they want to live around and even whom they would welcome into their families. And at a time of increasing gridlock on Capitol Hill, many on both the left and the right think the outcome of political negotiations between Obama and Republican leaders should be that their side gets more of what it wants.

These sentiments are not shared by all — or even most — Americans. The majority do not have uniformly conservative or liberal views. Most do not see either party as a threat to the nation. And more believe their representatives in government should meet halfway to resolve contentious disputes rather than hold out for more of what they want.

Yet many of those in the center remain on the edges of the political playing field, relatively distant and disengaged, while the most ideologically oriented and politically rancorous Americans make their voices heard through greater participation in every stage of the political process.

Many of those in the center remain on the edges of the political playing field … while the most ideologically oriented and politically rancorous Americans make their voices heard.

The rise of ideological uniformity has been much more pronounced among those who are the most politically active. On measure after measure — whether primary voting, writing letters to officials, volunteering for or donating to a campaign — the most politically polarized are more actively involved in politics, amplifying the voices that are the least willing to see the parties meet each other halfway.

These are among the findings of the largest study of U. Data are drawn from a national telephone survey of 10, adults, conducted from January through March of this year, and an ongoing series of follow-up surveys. This rich dataset, coupled with trends and insights from two decades of Pew Research Center polling, reveals a complex picture of partisan polarization and how it manifests itself in political behaviors, policy debates, election dynamics and everyday life.

To chart the progression of ideological thinking, responses to 10 political values questions asked on multiple Pew Research surveys since have been combined to create a measure of ideological consistency.

And this shift represents both Democrats moving to the left and Republicans moving to the right, with less and less overlap between the parties. Beyond the rise in ideological consistency, another major element in polarization has been the growing contempt that many Republicans and Democrats have for the opposing party. To be sure, disliking the other party is nothing new in politics. But today, these sentiments are broader and deeper than in the recent past.

Even these numbers tell only part of the story.