A couple of weeks ago Gallup released data showing a 13-point shift in party affiliation away from the GOP since the beginning of the year. Now the polling outfit is back with more bad news for Republicans: It's not just the party—it's the entire ideology that's repelling people.
Remember when “liberal” had supposedly become a bad word? Well, since the beginning of the year, Americans have made an 10-point shift away from identifying as "conservative," while moving toward identifying as "liberal."
In real numbers, those self-identifying as "conservative" dropped from 40% to 34% between January and June, while affiliation with the term "liberal" grew from 22% to 26%.
In 2019, conservative identification averaged 37%, so the ideology started the year in pretty good standing—until Senate Republicans acquitted Trump, after which he let the coronavirus ravage the nation and doomed the economy to an extra-long recession and maybe even depression. Apparently, the whole kit and caboodle hasn't been super attractive.
Gallup says the shift was about even in terms of gender but "more pronounced among adults in upper-income households as well as among middle-aged adults (aged 35 to 54) than their counterparts." In addition, white and Latino Americans made bigger shifts than Black Americans, who were already far more likely to be liberal-leaners.
And while many demographic groups are still slightly more predisposed to identifying as conservative, young adults, college graduates, and Black Americans are all more likely to identify as liberal.
So Democrats have made inroads among young voters, college graduates, people of color, whites, and upper-income brackets. That's a good place to be as we head into the most important election in a generation or more.