With the news media, Hollywood, corporations, colleges, and the Biden administration all against them, conservatives can sometimes feel like they’re facing an insatiable demand for wokeness to control all it touches.
But the battles over abortion, Bud Light, Target, sexualized books in school libraries, Disney movies, and drag-queen story hours on military installations, and more are having a significant impact on the right.
A poll published last week by the Gallup organization noted that 38% of Americans now claim to be “very conservative” or “conservative” on social issues.
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That’s an increase of 27% from just two years ago.
Overall, Gallup noted, “The last time this many Americans said they were socially conservative was 2012, during a period when consistently more U.S. adults identified as conservative rather than liberal on social issues.”
Gallup’s results, revealed from its annual “Values and Beliefs” survey, show that the current level of social conservatism is just four percentage points below the peak of 42% in 2009, which was the highest number in Gallup’s survey dating back to 1999.
And the biggest impact is on Republicans.
Gallup pointed out that just 10% of Democrats claim to be socially conservative. That’s up one point from last year and equal to 2021, when Joe Biden took office.
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Among Independents, the ratio of social conservatives was 29%, up three points from last year and five points from 2021.
Yet among Republicans, the ranks of social conservatives is up six points from 2022 and a whopping 14 points from just two years ago.
The poll also revealed that the biggest demographic gains were among middle-aged Americans.
The number of social conservatives in the 30 to 49 age bracket is up 13 points from 2021, and 11 points higher among those 50 to 64, Gallup reported.
Social conservatism has even grown six points among 18- to 29-year-olds.
“For most of the past eight years, Americans were about as likely to say they were liberal as conservative on social issues. This year, there is a more obvious conservative advantage,” Gallup reported on its website.
“The shift is mostly due to increasing social conservatism among Republicans, at a time when social issues such as transgender rights, abortion and other hot-button concerns are prominent in the national public debate.”
“Greater social conservatism may be fostering an environment more favorable to passing conservative-leaning social legislation, especially in Republican-dominated states,” the pollster added.
“Indeed, in the past year, many Republican states have passed stricter constraints on abortions, limited choices for transgender youth in sports participation and healthcare, and placed prohibitions on what topics can be discussed in classroom settings.”
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