(DCWatchdog.com) – More and more Americans are turning to social conservatism in recent years, and their number is the highest in the past decade, according to a new survey by Gallup.
The pollster has found that more than one-third of Americans – or 38% – are now “conservative on social issues,” an increase of five percentage points compared with last year.
The rise in the number of socially conservative people in the US is even more significant compared with 2021 when their share stood at 30%.
At the same time, Gallup has found that only 29% of Americans identified as “liberal” or “very liberal” in their social views – compared with 34% in both 2022 and 2021.
A third of US adults – or 31% – identified as “moderate” on social issues.
“The last time this many Americans said they were socially conservative was 2012, during a period when consistently more US adults identified as conservative rather than liberal on social issues,” the pollster comments in a release.
The new numbers come from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, conducted from May 1-24, 2023.
“The survey comes at a time when many states are considering policies regarding transgender matters, abortion, crime, drug use and the teaching of gender and sexuality in schools,” the release points out.
The pollster stresses that social conservativism has grown among most demographic groups.
Thus, the share of Republicans identifying as socially conservative has grown to 74%, up from 60% in 2021. Among Independents, the percentage went from 24% to 29% today.
Only 10% of Democrats describe themselves as socially conservative now, the same as in 2021, Gallup found.
The pollster notes that conservative social ideology among middle-aged adults (aged 30-64) has seen double-digit increases since 2021.
“Older Americans’ ideology on social issues has been stable, while there has been a modest increase in conservative social ideology among young adults,” the pollster notes.
The survey also found that on economic issues, 44% of Americans say they are “conservative” or “very conservative,” the highest since 46% in 2012. At the same time, 21% identify as “liberal” or “very liberal,” and 33% are “moderate.”
