# In your ideal electorate, what % of the voters would be conservatives?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-ideal-electorate-what-of-the-voters-would-be-conservatives/1007689>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [September 25, 2024, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-ideal-electorate-what-of-the-voters-would-be-conservatives/1007689 "2024-09-25T01:32:55Z")\
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**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-ideal-electorate-what-of-the-voters-would-be-conservatives/1007689/32 "2024-09-25T23:03:01Z")

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To answer this question we need to define what a conservative is. There are lots of reasonable definitions, and my answer will vary with them. I’ll take my definition from this old thread:

> [@Conservatism - What is it as a Philosophy?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatism-what-is-it-as-a-philosophy/1005231/34):
>
> Conservatives grant the need for change, but prefer to be careful and slow about it. Reactionaries are defined by their opposition to Liberalism: they react by accusing Liberals of being Socialists (sometimes Communists) and accusing Conservatives of being RINOs.
> 
> Reactionaries self-identify as conservatives. Conservatives self-identify as moderates.

Ignore how people self-identify for now. I would be content with 50% conservative, 0% reactionary. But that would involve the collapse of the GOP whose base is 3/4 reactionary. Something over a quarter of Democrats are conservative: they sometimes are referred to as Democratic Mainstays. Independents span the reactionary-conservative-moderate-liberal-other spectrum.

What about my ideal? 10% conservative, 10% socialist, 80% technocratic-wonky-center-left-mutual-admiration-society.

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