# Americans: Are you Conservative, Moderate or Liberal? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 21, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824 "2017-07-21T19:15:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/81 "2017-07-25T21:39:17Z")
Which version of the Nolan is considered valid, I took a quick 10 question test and scored on the border between centrist and liberal. Is it possible the left is moving further to the left? Like on health care, medicare for all is becoming a pretty mainstream policy. Open talk about class warfare happens much more now too. I feel like I haven’t changed (I could be wrong), but maybe the definition of what counts as a liberal has. In 2004 I was pretty squarely in the liberal camp, but in 2017 I feel (like some other posters) that I maybe am more of a right leaning liberal. I don’t think I’ve changed, I think the definition of liberal has changed. I’ve always been socially libertarian, but I feel now that some liberals want to engage in social engineering and control of speech, which I do not support. Like it feels like in 2004 you had to say ‘let gay people do what they want, its their life’ to be considered a liberal, now to be a liberal you have to support social engineering, control of what people can say, etc to be considered liberal on LGBT issues. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/82 "2017-07-26T00:15:15Z")
I’d say I lean _slightly_ conservative, but progressively less so as I get older. keep in mind I define “conservative” as “not impeding progress, but working to make sure we’re headed in the right direction before making a leap.” Not as in the reactionary regressivists we have now. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/83 "2017-07-26T05:41:27Z")
I put myself down as conservative since that is how I’ve mostly identified but I’m certainly more of an old school conservative than Trumpian. Quizzes I’ve taken mostly have me at right leaning center which is probably accurate and most likely due to the fact that I’m non-religious. As I get older I’m more and more disgusted with the stupidity and hypocracy of both parties and can’t understand anyone blindly supporting either. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/84 "2017-07-26T19:16:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > 1. Not interested in conducting a ten part questionnaire, just a simple poll. In a free forum such as this one such an attempt would meander all over the place and a high percentage of posters wouldn’t bother to even answer all ten questions. > > 2. Again, If you think you can get a better response your way, please go for it. > > 3. And I am happy for you. Sorry for the double post; I thought the hamsters had eaten the first one. 1. Flat earther: I want to make this poll as simple as possible. Do you think the earth is flat like a pancake, or does it have raised edges to keep the water from running out? I will not accept any other opinions on the subject of the earth because that’s too complicated. 2. I did, with two links. 3. And you can keep your fingers stuffed in your ears if it makes you happy. > [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Which version of the Nolan is considered valid, I took a quick 10 question test and scored on the border between centrist and liberal. And I have moved downward from the peak and drifted left at well. Not so far as to wind up centrist, though. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/85 "2017-07-26T21:50:55Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I feel like I haven’t changed (I could be wrong), but maybe the definition of what counts as a liberal has. In 2004 I was pretty squarely in the liberal camp, but in 2017 I feel (like some other posters) that I maybe am more of a right leaning liberal. I don’t think I’ve changed, I think the definition of liberal has changed. I’ve always been socially libertarian, but I feel now that some liberals want to engage in social engineering and control of speech, which I do not support. Like it feels like in 2004 you had to say ‘let gay people do what they want, its their life’ to be considered a liberal, now to be a liberal you have to support social engineering, control of what people can say, etc to be considered liberal on LGBT issues. I feel that too, and I don’t think it makes us inauthentic liberals, I think the meaning of the term is just broadening. There again I’m probably too socially liberal for the classic Liberals. I’m in the middle somewhere. It feels weird happening to me, but I wonder if this is just a shift that happens with all political ideologies over time. Not even that individuals become more moderate with time, but that the actual ideology itself is embodied by more radical ideas than it was in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/86 "2017-07-26T22:36:46Z")
I am a wacky way out there liberal when compared to the general sentiment of the people where I live. I am pretty much moderate by American political standards. And that makes me a right wing nutjob based upon certain international points of view. So yes, yes, and yes. I am Conservative, Moderate, and Liberal. Just depends on whose yardstick you are measuring by. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/87 "2017-07-26T22:56:26Z")
Fifteen years ago I was a right of center moderate who voted mostly R. Now I’m a left of center moderate who votes mostly D. I haven’t changed my stances on anything (except gay marriage) in between. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/88 "2017-07-27T16:44:56Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > I am a wacky way out there liberal when compared to the general sentiment of the people where I live. > > I am pretty much moderate by American political standards. > > And that makes me a right wing nutjob based upon certain international points of view. > > So yes, yes, and yes. I am Conservative, Moderate, and Liberal. Just depends on whose yardstick you are measuring by. I believe I asked of the three choices which one _you_ most associated with, so what others call you, or what some 10 or 20 question quiz labels you as, really doesn’t matter when it come to this poll. Edited to add: To use your own phrase, the only yardstick that matters here is your own. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/89 "2017-07-27T19:47:06Z")
Since I am an American who does not live in the United States I have found that my personal yardstick is not one often accepted by those around me. I think of myself as rather moderate by American standards. On some issues I agree with the Democrats. On other issues I agree with the Republicans. And on quite a few issues I agree with neither, tending to favor a Libertarian position. But I live in a sharply conservative place with strong influences of religion in public life. But my support for same sex marriage, for medical marijuana, and for equal pay for equal work regardless of gender or marital status of the employee puts me out in the far leftists by local standards. And since this is where I live and that is the feedback I constantly get then it can be hard to think of myself differently. But I do. But amongst the very internationally diverse community of expats here I might as well be a right wing troglodyte. I don’t support mandatory government run single payer healthcare. I favor a hard line on immigration including forced deportations of those overstaying a visa before any application to adjust their status can be heard. And I cannot recoil in horror at a statement just because it came out of the mouth of Donald Trump. Where you live and the context that provides is an integral part of how you might measure your beliefs against others’ beliefs and forms the context of whether you are more conservative or liberal. ---
**Author:** ![Doubticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@Doubticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubticus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/90 "2017-07-27T20:06:35Z")
I voted Liberal, but more accurately I’m socially liberal and fiscally moderate. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/91 "2017-07-28T13:14:47Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I also started off life as a conservative. Was a centrist from my 20s through my early 40s, and have identified as a liberal since then. > > And I _can_ see moderate from here, but I need a good pair of binoculars. You stole my line. I want government to do something about that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/92 "2017-07-28T14:12:16Z")
Liberals are managerial capitalists who throw crumbs to the poor to prevent social disruptions and protect the wealthy. OP, if you wanted to be cheeky you could have replaced your three choices with: socialist, liberal, and fascist. > [@AHunter3](#): > > In fact I tend to agree with people who say the extreme left and right seem to bend around a loop and merge into each other (totalitarianism). If you want to jump on silly meme diagrams it’s all about [fishhook theory.](https://pics.onsizzle.com/far-left-fish-hook-theory-far-right-centrist-like-the-22467344.png) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/93 "2017-07-28T14:22:53Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Liberals are managerial capitalists who throw crumbs to the poor to prevent social disruptions and protect the wealthy. OP, if you wanted to be cheeky you could have replaced your three choices with: socialist, liberal, and fascist. If my intent was just to tick off people, I would have posted such a poisoned well poll in The BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/94 "2017-07-28T14:27:29Z")
I am a bleeding-heart liberal Christian gun-owner. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/95 "2017-07-28T16:04:21Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I’m not sure an anarchist is liberal or “in a liberal direction from the center”. Classic anarchists are far left libertarians. Anarchist-capitalists are what liberals think right-libertarians are (no state, but still markets and corporations). > [@](#): > > In fact I tend to agree with people who say the extreme left and right seem to bend around a loop and merge into each other (totalitarianism). More fun with horseshoe mocking charts: [Socialism as the reasonable center, liberalism and conservatism converge to fascism.](https://68.media.tumblr.com/dcf82f644e37377c7978bf325090e96d/tumblr_oi8zq3mZsi1ugt2xio1_1280.jpg) [How convenient.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cvo74leWIAATPUL.jpg:large) [Prostitition horseshoe.](https://i.imgur.com/CRkg59i.jpg) > [@Czarcasm](#): > > If my intent was just to tick off people, I would have posted such a poisoned well poll in The BBQ Pit. This board leans more left so it’s more interesting to make distinctions in that direction (54% liberal as of this post), and “moderate” is basically meaningless. Maybe divide it into: socialist, socdem, liberal, conservative, and fascist. Or instead of socdems call them progressives. ---
**Author:** ![C.Blackwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@C.Blackwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Blackwood)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/96 "2017-07-30T02:09:55Z")
Conservative, totes. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/97 "2017-07-30T02:27:17Z")
I consider myself economically center left, and socially moderate. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/98 "2017-07-30T04:40:39Z")
I’d say if you average everything out, I’m probably moderate. I’m wildly liberal on some things, and crankily conservative on others. For example, on social issues (gay marriage, civil rights, etc…) I’m pretty liberal, but on others, like economic issues, I’m educated enough and skeptical enough to be conservative about them. For example, no amount of liberal propaganda is going to skew me to be in favor of a lot of pet liberal ideas about ownership of companies, or neo-communistic ideas about pay and wages. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/99 "2017-07-31T13:44:06Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > This board skews liberal. I don’t think a poll thread like this one, even if it’s representative, would accurately capture the extent of the liberal skew. Because there’s a compounding effect of liberal dominance. Meaning once the board is skewed liberal, political discussions are going to be dominated by liberal viewpoints, and this will itself deter conservatives with non-confrontational personalities from participating in such discussions. So the breakdown among posters who actively participate in political discussions will be more skewed liberal than the board as a whole. And this itself will have even more of a deterrent effect and skew things even more, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824/100 "2017-07-31T14:17:24Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I don’t think a poll thread like this one, even if it’s representative, would accurately capture the extent of the liberal skew. Because there’s a compounding effect of liberal dominance. > > Meaning once the board is skewed liberal, political discussions are going to be dominated by liberal viewpoints, and this will itself deter conservatives with non-confrontational personalities from participating in such discussions. So the breakdown among posters who actively participate in political discussions will be more skewed liberal than the board as a whole. And this itself will have even more of a deterrent effect and skew things even more, and so on. Did you happen to cast a vote? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-are-you-conservative-moderate-or-liberal/791824.md?page=6)