Which side is more passionate/fired-up about its political views?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Ignoring for the moment which side is right or wrong, or whether political beliefs are well-founded or ill-founded - which side do you think has more desire to win, or more desire to see its agenda enacted?
I would argue that, in general, liberals are slightly more fired-up than conservatives. One reason is that, on a number of issues, liberals have more to lose, or are more affected by, than conservatives. For instance, on the abortion issue, if abortion is upheld, that doesn’t affect pro-life people who want to keep their babies - abortion isn’t being imposed on people who don’t want abortions (at least not in America, for now.) But abortion being banned would cause a pregnant woman who wants an abortion to not be able to get one. Likewise for gay marriage - if gay marriage is upheld, it has little impact on a heterosexual couple, but the banning of SSM has major impact on a gay couple.

There are some issues on which the reverse is true (gun owners lean Republican, and banning guns would affect gun owners big time, while allowing gun ownership has less effect on people who don’t own guns, except perhaps an increase in the likelihood that they would be the victim of a shooting, which is still unlikely.) But by and large liberals are more motivated to win at the ballot box, and push for their side, than conservatives.

2

Actually two different questions and answers.

Which side is more passionate/fired-up about its political views? Conservatives. At the drop of a hat they will NOT vote for a candidate based on one single issue or viewpoint.

Which side wants to win more, or is more diehard? Democrats. You can be almost the exact opposite of everything we believe in but if you are the endorsed candidate you will get our vote. Because if we don’t vote for you that evil Republican may just win.

3

Since conservatives tend to be more self-reliant, and liberals tend to be more government-reliant, I would expect liberals to be more passionate and desperate not to lose. They have much MORE to lose.

4

Conservatives are more self-reliant? That’s a new one to me.

I think conservatives believe they have a lot to lose, including their guns, culture, and country. And, primarily, their money (taxes).

As a self reliant liberal (and a very passionate one at that) I don’t feel like I personally have much on the line in most elections.

5

There is some truth to this. Liberals care about losing roe v wade or losing health insurance in ways conservatives do not. Granted tons of conservatives are on government health care, too, but they don’t realize it or won’t admit it to themselves. For me personally, the only thing that directly affects me about politics is health care policy (and eventually climate change).

Having said that, conservatives are terrified of democratic majorities for endless reasons. They think it’ll lead to crime, terrorism, economic slowdowns, inept health care, gun confiscation, loss of white culture as a dominant cultural force, etc.

The real question is are fired up people fired up to vote for their party or fired up to vote against the other party? For a lot of liberals it is the latter. We’ve seen the democrats in action and don’t expect them to actually pass good legislation (meaningful action on health care, income inequality, financial sector, labor rights, etc) but at least they won’t pass bad legislation like the gop does. A lot of us are more voting to keep the gop out of power than we are voting because we expect to see competent, constructive legislation come from the democrats.

Which sid is more fired up depends on which side feels more under attack. Right now liberals feel more under attack so they’re more energizes. That may change in 2021.