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Liberal-Conservative Self-Identification 1972-2020
Click, hold and drag your mouse on the chart to zoom in on a region. Right click to return the chart to its original state.
| '72 | '74 | '76 | '78 | '80 | '82 | '84 | '86 | '88 | '90 | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | '06 | '08 | '10 | '12 | '14 | '16 | '18 | '20 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extremely Liberal | 1 (32) |
2 (44) |
1 (39) |
2 (38) |
2 (25) |
1 (19) |
2 (36) |
1 (24) |
2 (35) |
1 (27) |
2 (50) |
1 (21) |
1 (20) |
2 (25) |
2 (14) |
2 (26) |
2 (28) |
** | 3 (64) |
** | 3 (169) |
** | 3 (110) |
** | 4 (345) |
| Liberal | 7 (156) |
11 (271) |
7 (192) |
8 (179) |
6 (93) |
6 (81) |
7 (161) |
6 (130) |
6 (112) |
7 (142) |
8 (210) |
6 (109) |
7 (116) |
7 (89) |
9 (76) |
12 (175) |
9 (105) |
** | 10 (227) |
** | 10 (603) |
** | 12 (436) |
** | 13 (1079) |
| Slightly Liberal | 10 (212) |
8 (198) |
8 (229) |
10 (225) |
9 (136) |
8 (105) |
9 (201) |
11 (232) |
9 (186) |
8 (159) |
10 (243) |
7 (130) |
10 (175) |
9 (121) |
9 (77) |
9 (127) |
8 (94) |
** | 9 (205) |
** | 11 (631) |
** | 11 (404) |
** | 10 (828) |
| Moderate, Middle of Road | 27 (579) |
26 (654) |
25 (720) |
27 (611) |
20 (307) |
22 (313) |
23 (520) |
28 (603) |
22 (446) |
24 (481) |
23 (574) |
26 (465) |
24 (411) |
29 (365) |
23 (194) |
22 (329) |
25 (304) |
** | 22 (506) |
** | 32 (1859) |
** | 24 (863) |
** | 22 (1849) |
| Slightly Conservative | 15 (322) |
12 (304) |
12 (353) |
14 (309) |
13 (211) |
13 (178) |
14 (313) |
15 (329) |
15 (309) |
14 (274) |
15 (370) |
14 (249) |
15 (256) |
15 (196) |
12 (98) |
10 (153) |
12 (144) |
** | 12 (278) |
** | 14 (842) |
** | 12 (426) |
** | 10 (824) |
| Conservative | 10 (220) |
12 (295) |
11 (314) |
11 (259) |
13 (199) |
12 (170) |
13 (288) |
13 (282) |
14 (278) |
10 (193) |
13 (312) |
19 (333) |
15 (253) |
13 (160) |
15 (130) |
21 (307) |
16 (196) |
** | 17 (390) |
** | 18 (1047) |
** | 17 (615) |
** | 18 (1485) |
| Extremely Conservative | 1 (27) |
2 (47) |
2 (62) |
2 (52) |
2 (33) |
2 (31) |
2 (36) |
2 (33) |
3 (59) |
2 (41) |
3 (65) |
3 (54) |
3 (49) |
2 (31) |
3 (28) |
4 (53) |
3 (36) |
** | 3 (71) |
** | 4 (250) |
** | 3 (125) |
** | 5 (433) |
| DK, Haven't Thought | 28 (607) |
27 (665) |
33 (932) |
27 (611) |
36 (561) |
36 (503) |
30 (674) |
25 (537) |
30 (610) |
33 (650) |
27 (661) |
24 (423) |
25 (433) |
23 (293) |
27 (231) |
22 (321) |
25 (304) |
** | 25 (578) |
** | 8 (470) |
** | 18 (650) |
** | 17 (1426) |
| N | 2155 | 2478 | 2841 | 2284 | 1565 | 1400 | 2229 | 2170 | 2035 | 1967 | 2485 | 1784 | 1713 | 1280 | 848 | 1491 | 1211 | 0 | 2319 | 0 | 5871 | 0 | 3629 | 0 | 8268 |
Percentage Within Study Year
Table 3.1.
Source: VCF0803 in the ANES Cumulative Data File dataset,
weighted with VCF0009z
Link to see data by mode (2012, 2016)
Percent among demographic groups who responded:
Question Text:
ALL YEARS EXC. 2000 TELEPHONE AND 2002: "Here is (1972,1974: I'm going to show you) a 7-point scale on which the political views that people might hold are arranged from extremely liberal to extremely conservative."
"Where would you place yourself on this scale, or haven't you thought much about this?" (7-POINT SCALE SHOWN TO R)"
2000 TELEPHONE AND 2002: "When it comes to politics do you usually think of yourself as extremely liberal, liberal, slightly liberal, moderate or middle of the road, slightly conservative, extremely conservative, or haven't you thought much about this?"
Note:
2012 and 2016 data are for the combined (face-to-face and internet) sample.
In the 2012 Web instrument, Don't Know and Haven't thought much about it' were not present as onscreen categories for Internet Respondents. Data here for the Guide category combining these two responses represent face-to-face cases only.