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Conservatism in the United States is one of two majorpolitical ideologies in the United States, with the other beingmodern liberalism. Traditional American conservatism is characterized by a belief inindividualism,traditionalism,capitalism,republicanism, and limited federal governmental powerin relation toU.S. states,[1] although 21st century developments have shifted it towardsright-wing populist themes.[2]
American conservatives maintain support from theChristian right and its interpretation ofChristian values andmoral absolutism,[3][4] while generallyopposing abortion,euthanasia, and someLGBT rights.[5] They tend to favoreconomic liberalism,[6][7] and are generally pro-business and pro-capitalism,[8][9] while more stronglyopposing communism andlabor unions than liberals and social democrats.[10][11][12] Recent shifts have moved it towardsnational conservatism,[13]protectionism,[14]cultural conservatism, and a morerealist foreign policy.[2]
Conservatives often advocate for strongnational defense,gun rights,capital punishment, and a defense ofWestern culture from perceived threats posed bycommunism,Islamism, andmoral relativism.[15][16] Some American conservatives may questionepidemiology, anthropogenicclimate change, andevolution more frequently thanmoderates orliberals.[17][18][19]
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In the United States, conservativism is often defined differently from how it is viewed and described inEurope and other regions of the world. Following theAmerican Revolution, Americans rejected the core ideals of European conservatism, includinglanded nobility,hereditary monarchy,established churches, and powerful armies.[citation needed]
Conservatives in the United States historically viewindividual liberty within the bounds of conservative values as the fundamental trait ofdemocracy.[20][21] They typically believe in a balance betweenfederal government andstates' rights. Apart from someright-libertarians, American conservatives tend to favor strong action in areas they believe to be within government's legitimate jurisdiction, particularlynational defense andlaw enforcement while opposing government intervention in social issues such ashealthcare and theenvironment.Social conservatives, including many of religious organizations and leaders, often opposeabortion andsame-sex marriage. Oneducation policy, American conservatives often supportprayer in public schools andschool choice, which enhances parents' choice between public,private, andparochial inprimary education.[22][23][24][25]
Like mostU.S. political ideologies, American conservatism is founded on the principle ofrepublicanism, which rejectsaristocratic andmonarchical government. American conservatives see theDeclaration of Independence, authored during the Revolutionary War largely byThomas Jefferson and unanimously adopted by theSecond Continental Congress inPhiladelphia in 1776, as an ideological foundation, especially the Declaration's phrase that, "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these arelife, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Most American conservatives similarly see theU.S. Constitution, which established afederal republic under therule of law and was ratified by delegates to theConstitutional Convention in 1789, as a doctrine and guiding principle.
Conservative philosophy also derives in part from theclassical liberal tradition of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, which advocatedlaissez-faire economics and is supportive ofeconomic freedom andderegulation.[26][27]Louis Hartz, aHarvard University political scientist and historian, has argued thatsocialism has failed to become established in the United States because of Americans' widespread acceptance of an enduring, underlyingLockean consensus.[28]
Patrick Allitt, anEmory University history professor, and political theoristRussell Kirk have asserted that conservative principles have played a major role inU.S. politics andculture since 1776, but argue that an organized conservative movement with an identifiable ideology and set of beliefs did not emerge in the U.S. east until at least the 1950s.[29][30][31]Movement conservatism has its base in theRepublican Party, which has adopted conservative policies since the 1950s. Beginning in the 1930s and continuing through the mid-1960s,Southern Democrats also were largely conservative.[32][33][34][35] In 1937, they formed theconservative coalition in theU.S. Congress, and Southern conservatives have mostly been heavily Republican since the late 20th century.[citation needed]
Conservatism in the United States has never been represented by a national political party called the Conservative Party, as exists inCanada, theUnited Kingdom, and other nations.[36] InAmerican politics, however, conservatism has been the predominant guiding ideology of theRepublican Party since at least the 1960s, and American conservatism also exists as a force in American politics, media, academia and culture.
Both major U.S. political parties supportrepublicanism and theclassical liberal ideals on which the country was founded in 1776, which include and emphasis onliberty, therule of law, theconsent of the governed, and that all men were created equal, principles prominently articulated in theDeclaration of Independence. Embrace of these principles by theThirteen Colonies during thecolonial era, ultimately leading a significant percent of Americans to conclude that these principles could never exist as long as they remained part ofBritish America, governed by theKingdom of Great Britain. This recognition, which grew in popularity as theAmerican Revolution developed, leading theSecond Continental Congress to ultimately embrace the cause of independence, which was secured after prevailing in the eight-yearRevolutionary War against the British.[37]
Political conservatives have emphasized an identification with theFounding Fathers of the United States and theU.S. Constitution.[38] Scholars of conservative political thought "generally labelJohn Adams as the intellectual father ofAmerican conservatism".[39] Russell Kirk points to Adams as the key Founding Father for conservatives, saying that "some writers regard him as America's most important conservative public man".[40] In 1955,Clinton Rossiter, a professor of history atMount Holyoke College, wrote:
Here was no lover of government by plutocracy, no dreamer of an America filled with factions and hard-packed cities. Here was a man who loved America as it was and had been, one whose life was a doughty testament to the trials and glories of ordered liberty. Here ... was the model of the American conservative.[41]
A. Owen Aldridge places Adams, "At the head of the conservative ranks in the early years of the Republic and Jefferson as the leader of the contrary liberal current."[42] It was a fundamental doctrine for Adams that all men are subject to equal laws of morality. He held that in society all men have a right to equal laws and equal treatment from the government. However, he added, "no two men are perfectly equal in person, property, understanding, activity, and virtue."[43]Peter Viereck commented:
Hamilton, Adams, and theirFederalist party sought to establish in the new world what they called a "natural aristocracy". [It was to be] based on property, education, family status, and sense of ethical responsibility... Their motive was liberty itself.[44]
After Americans obtained independence with their victory in the Revolutionary War, political divisions in the U.S. have been depicted as seemingly minor compared to those in Europe, where the divide between the left and the right led to violent polarization, which began with theFrench Revolution in 1789.[45]
In contemporaryAmerican politics, no major U.S. political party has embraced ideals historically associated with European conservatism, including monarchy, an established church, or a hereditary aristocracy. In the 20th century, American conservatism emerged largely as a reaction against utopian ideas of progress[46] and thepolitical philosophy that emerged in Europe prior to the end ofWorld War II in 1945.[47]Russell Kirk, inThe Conservative Mind, published in 1950, argued that the American Revolution was "a conservative reaction, in the English political tradition, against royal innovation".[48][undue weight? –discuss]
In 2009,Emory University history professorPatrick Allitt wrote that attitude, not policy, was at the core of differences between liberals and conservatives, writing:
Certain continuities can be traced through American history. The conservative 'attitude' ... was one of trusting to the past, to long-established patterns of thought and conduct, and of assuming that novelties were more likely to be dangerous than advantageous.[49]
In 2022,Matthew Continetti of theAmerican Enterprise Institute wrote that the American conservative movement has been fractured for a century.[50]
Conservative leaders in the United States have not always represented a single school of thought, and American conservatism has evolved since it began emerging in the 1950s as one of the nation's predominant ideologies.[51]Barry Goldwater, aU.S. Senator fromArizona, for instance, was an advocate forfree enterprise in conservatism, which he made a centerpiece of his1964 presidential campaign. Two decades later, in the 1980s,Jerry Falwell, founder ofLiberty University and theMoral Majority, was primarily an advocate for traditional moral and religious social values.[citation needed] The history of American conservatism has also been marked by tensions and competing ideologies. During theReagan era of the 1980s,[52] a coalition of ideologies, known as "theThree Leg Stool", emerged, including three distinct segments of American conservatives:social conservatives,fiscal conservatives, andwar hawks.[53][54][55]
As of the 21st century, American conservatism includes several varying ideological schools of thought, though conservatives on the whole often embrace all or several of these schools. They include:
In February 1955, in the first issue ofNational Review,William F. Buckley Jr. explained the standards of his magazine and articulate the beliefs of American conservatives, writing:[88]
Among our convictions: It is the job of centralized government (in peacetime) to protect its citizens' lives, liberty and property. All other activities of government tend to diminish freedom and hamper progress. The growth of government (the dominant social feature of this century) must be fought relentlessly. In this great social conflict of the era, we are, without reservations, on the libertarian side. The profound crisis of our era is, in essence, the conflict between the Social Engineers, who seek to adjust mankind to scientific utopias, and the disciples of Truth, who defend the organic moral order. We believe that truth is neither arrived at nor illuminated by monitoring election results, binding though these are for other purposes, but by other means, including a study of human experience. On this point we are, without reservations, on the conservative side.
According toPeter Viereck, a history professor atMount Holyoke College, American conservatism is distinctive because it was not tied to a monarchy, landed aristocracy, established church, or military elite.[89] Instead American conservatives were firmly rooted inAmerican republicanism, which European conservatives opposed. They are committed,Seymour Martin Lipset, aHarvard University political science and sociology professor said, to a belief in America's "superiority against the cold reactionary monarchical and more rigidly status-bound system of European society."[90]
American conservatives have been heavily influenced by theclassical liberal orlibertarian tradition, which was expressed byFriedrich Hayek andMilton Friedman, and a major source of influence has been theChicago school of economics. They have been strongly opposed toKeynesian economics.[91][92]
Traditional conservatives largely tend to be anti-ideological, identifying with the ideals ofEdmund Burke, a member of theBritish House of Commons and author ofReflections on the Revolution in France and several other books associated with traditional conservatism,[93] andRussell Kirk, a traditional conservative whose 1953 book,The Conservative Mind, was an influential overview of the development of the contemporary American conservative movement, which Kirk traces back to the writings of Burke. Kirk described American conservatism as a steady flow of "prescription and prejudice"; Kirk defines his use of the word "prejudice" as an inherited wisdom over the ages, rather than any form of discrimination.The Conservative Mind was widely praised following its release withWhittaker Chambers calling it the most important book of the 20th century.[94]
During the second half of the 20th century, American conservatism included various cause-specific movements and was sometimes fragmented. Yet, one cause, opposition tocommunism, united these issue-specific causes and factions, which permitted it to begin emerging as an influential political force. American conservatives viewed communism and theSoviet Union during theCold War as threatening in several serious ways, undermining traditionalism and order, contradicting the principles of theAmerican Revolution, and representing a grave threat to the nation's security and preservation.[95]
Fiscal conservatism has ideological roots incapitalism,limited government,free enterprise, andlaissez-faire economics. Fiscal conservatives typically supporttax cuts, reducedgovernment spending,free markets,deregulation,privatization, minimalgovernment debt, and a balanced budget. They argue that low taxes produce more jobs and wealth for everyone, and, as President Grover Cleveland said, "unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation".[96] A recent movement against the estate tax labels such a tax as a "death tax." Fiscal conservatives often argue that competition in the free market is more effective than the regulation of industry and is the most efficient way to promoteeconomic growth. The Republican Party has taken widely varying views onprotectionism andfree trade throughout its history. Others, such as some libertarians and followers ofLudwig von Mises, believe all government intervention in the economy is wasteful, corrupt, and immoral.[26][27]
Fiscal conservatism advocates restraint of progressive taxation and expenditure. Fiscal conservatives since the 19th century have argued that debt is a device to corrupt politics; they argue that big spending ruins the morals of the people, and that a national debt creates a dangerous class of speculators. A political strategy employed by conservatives to achieve a smaller government is known asstarve the beast. Conservative activistGrover Norquist, a proponent of this strategy. said, "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."[97][98] The argument in favor ofbalanced budgets is often coupled with a belief that government welfare programs should be narrowly tailored and that tax rates should be low, which implies relatively small government institutions.[99]
Neoconservatism emphasizesforeign policy over domestic policy. Its supporters, mainlywar hawks, advocate a moremilitaristic,interventionist foreign policy aimed at promoting democracy abroad, which stands in stark contrast toPaleoconservatism's moreisolationist foreign policy. Neoconservatives often namecommunism andIslamism as the biggest threats to the free world.[71] They often oppose theUnited Nations for interfering with American unilateralism.[100]
National conservatism focuses on upholdingnational andcultural identity. National conservatives strongly identify withAmerican nationalism,patriotism, andAmerican exceptionalism, while opposinginternationalism,globalism, andmulticulturalism. The movement seeks to promote national interests through the preservation oftraditional cultural values,[65]restrictions on illegal immigration,[67] and strictlaw and order policies.[66]
Social conservatism in the United States is the defense of traditionalfamily values rooted inJudeo-Christian ethics and thenuclear family.[3][101][102][24] There are two overlapping subgroups of social conservatives, traditional conservatives and religious conservatives. Traditional conservatives strongly support traditional codes of conduct, especially those they feel are threatened by social change and modernization. Religious conservatives focus on conducting society based on themorals prescribed byfundamentalist religious authorities, rejectingsecularism andmoral relativism. In the United States, this translates into hard-line stances on moral issues, such as opposition toabortion,LGBT rights,feminism,pornography,comprehensive sex education, andrecreational drug use.
Religious conservatives often assert that America is aChristian nation, calling for laws that enforceChristian morality. They often supportschool prayer,vouchers for parochial schools, andrestricting or outlawing abortion.[24][25][5] Social conservatives are strongest in the Southern "Bible Belt" and in recent years played a major role in the political coalitions ofGeorge W. Bush andDonald Trump.[103]
Historian Kathleen G. Donohue argues thatclassical liberalism in the United States during the 19th century had distinctive characteristics as opposed to Britain:
[A]t the center of classical liberal theory [in Europe] was the idea oflaissez-faire. To the vast majority of American classical liberals, however,laissez-faire did not mean no government intervention at all. On the contrary, they were more than willing to see government provide tariffs, railroad subsidies, and internal improvements, all of which benefited producers. What they condemned was intervention in behalf of consumers.[104]
Economic liberalism owes its creation as an ideology to theclassical liberal tradition, based on philosophies advanced byAdam Smith,Friedrich Hayek,Milton Friedman, andLudwig von Mises.[104] Classical liberals supported free markets on moral, ideological grounds: principles of individual liberty morally dictate support for free markets. Supporters of the moral grounds for free markets includeAyn Rand andLudwig von Mises. The liberal tradition is suspicious of government authority and prefers individual choice, and hence tends to see free market capitalism as the preferable means of achieving economic ends.[26][27]
Economic liberalism borrows from two schools of thought: the classical liberals' pragmatism and the libertarians' notion of rights. Classical liberalism holds that free markets work best, while libertarianism contends that free markets are the only ethical markets. American conservatives' belief in the importance ofcivil society is another reason why they support a more limited role for government in the nation's economy.Alexis de Tocqueville believed extensive engagement of government in the economy make people feel less responsible for society, and that the responsibility for society would then need to be taken over by the government, requiring higher taxes. In his bookDemocracy in America, published in the 19th century, Tocqueville described this as "soft oppression".[26][27]
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There have been numerous large veterans organizations in American history, most notably theGrand Army of the Republic (GAR), theVeterans of Foreign Wars, and theAmerican Legion.[105] They have generally tended to be conservative in politics, with an emphasis on veterans' benefits. The GAR, according to Stuart McConnell, promoted, "a nationalism that honored white, native-stock, middle-class males and ... affirmed a prewar ideal of a virtuous, millennial Republic, based on the independent producer, entrepreneurial capitalism, and the citizen-soldier volunteer".[106] Political conservatism has been an important aspect of the American Legion since its founding in the 1920s.[107] The American Legion always paid very close attention to domestic subversion, especially the threat of domestic communism. But it paid little attention to foreign affairs prior to the end of World War II in 1945. It ignored theLeague of Nations and was hostile to theWashington Naval Conference in 1921, which rolled back the naval arms race in the 1920s. Pacifism was popular in the 1920s, and Legion locals ridiculed it and sometimes booed theWomen's International League for Peace and Freedom. DuringWorld War II, it accepted the wartime alliance withStalin againstNazi Germany.
As theCold War commenced following the end ofWorld War II in 1945, the Legion paid increasing attention to an anti-Soviet foreign policy.[108] Its Counter-Subversive Activities Committee in 1946 began publishing theAmerican Legion Firing Line, a newsletter for members which provides information on communist, fascist, and other extremist groups to its subscribers. It warned members against far-right groups such as theJohn Birch Society and antisemitic groups. By the late 1950s, the newsletter became much more interested in foreign affairs.[109]
The Legion's policy resolutions endorsed large-scale defense spending and the deployment of powerful new weapon systems from the hydrogen bomb in the 1950s to Reagan'sStrategic Defense Initiative in the 1980s.Harry S. Truman was the first Legionnaire to occupy the White House, but he came under Legion attack for waging a limited war inKorea and not following the advice of GeneralDouglas MacArthur in attackingChina. By 1961, the Legion outright rejected the policy of containment, and called for the liberation of the captive peoples in Eastern Europe. The Legion publications typically hailedBarry Goldwater, a member, as a political role model, but like Goldwater andWilliam F. Buckley, they rejected the extremism of theJohn Birch Society. The Legion supported increased intervention inVietnam and support of anti-Communist forces inCentral America and Afghanistan. The Legion never saw much benefit in the United Nations, and like other conservatives worried about a loss of American sovereignty to international bodies.The collapse of Soviet-style communism in Eastern Europe and in Russia itself saw the American Legion looking to new venues for militaristic action. It praised PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush's intervention inKuwait againstIraq in 1990. After theSeptember 11 attacks, it vigorously endorsed PresidentGeorge W. Bush's strategy of a global war on terror, and it supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003.[110]
In 1962,Engel v. Vitale, aU.S. Supreme Court case, banned state-written prayers in public schools. White evangelicals mostly supported that decision. However, they saw the 1963Abington School District v. Schempp decision to ban school-sponsored Bible reading and school-organized praying of the Lord's Prayer from those schools as an affront. The Supreme Court ruled that prayer organized by the school was not voluntary since students were coerced or publicly embarrassed if they did not follow along. But Conservatives continued to call for voluntary school prayer, which is already protected under law, and repeatedly attacked the Supreme Court on this issue and on other issues, especially abortion. The evangelicals had long been avid supporters of the public schools. Now they had to reconsider their place in both schools and society as a whole. They concluded with surprising unanimity that those school decisions had done more than forced evangelical belief out of America's public schools; the decisions had pushed evangelicals themselves out of America's mainstream culture. Alienated, they moved into thereligious right and by 1980 were avid supporters ofRonald Reagan.[111][112][113]
The archetypal free market conservative administrations of the late 20th century, theMargaret Thatcher government in Britain and theReagan administration in the U.S., both held unfettered operation of the market to be the cornerstone of contemporary modern conservatism.[114] Thatcher privatized industries and public housing, andRonald Reagan cut the maximum capital gains tax from 28% to 20%, though in his second term he agreed to raise it back up to 28%. Reagan also cut individual income-tax rates, lowering the maximum rate from 70% to 28%. He increased defense spending, but liberal Democrats blocked his efforts to cut domestic spending.[115] Reagan did not control the rapid increase in federal government spending or reduce the deficit, but his record looks better when expressed as a percent of the gross domestic product. Federal revenues as a percent of the GDP fell from 19.6% in 1981 when Reagan took office to 18.3% in 1989 when he left. Federal spending fell slightly from 22.2% of the GDP to 21.2%. This contrasts with statistics from 2004, when government spending was rising more rapidly than it had in decades.[116]
President Reagan set the conservative standard in the 1980s, which continued until the early 21st century. In the2012 Republican presidential primary, most Republican presidential candidates "claimed to be standard bearers of Reagan's ideological legacy".[117] Reagan solidified Republican strength by uniting its fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, and national conservatives into a conservative coalition. He did so with tax cuts, continuedderegulation, a greatly increasedmilitary budget, a policy ofrollback of Communism, known as theReagan Doctrine, and appeals tofamily values and religious morality. The 1980s came to be known as theReagan era.[118]
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According to conservative academicSean Speer, some of the most important developments within the 21st century American conservative movement include the rise of Donald Trump andright-wing populism more broadly, an emerging movement within conservatism that is opposed to both post-Cold Warneoliberalism and liberalism more broadly,[120] a generational change within conservatism causing a renewed emphasis on identity and culture among younger conservative figures, and the rise ofsocial media platforms causing a fragmentation of traditional media platforms.[50] According to historianGary Gerstle, Trumpism gained support in opposition toneoliberalism, including opposition to free trade, immigration, andinternationalism.[120]
Speer adds that these developments have caused "an erosion of the conservative consensus involving free markets, social conservatism, and a hawkish foreign policy (sometimes described as "fusionism") that provided the intellectual scaffolding for American conservatism essentially from the launch ofNational Review magazine in the mid-1950s to the second term of George W. Bush's presidency."[50]Nate Cohn ofThe New York Times stated that Donald Trump's re-election in 2024 helped cement a realignment ofright-wing populism as the dominant faction of American conservatism.[121]
According to political scientists Matt Grossmann and David A. Hopkins, the Republican Party's gains among white voters without college degrees contributed to the rise of right-wing populism. It has also contributed to conservativeanti-intellectualism, including distrust of thenews media, educational institutions, and science.[122] In the2024 United States presidential election, Trump won 56% of voters without a college degree, compared to 42% of voters with a college degree.[123]
Long-term shifts in American conservative thinking following the election of Trump have been described as a "new fusionism" of traditional conservative ideology and right-wing populist themes.[2] These have resulted in shifts towards greater support ofnational conservatism,[13]protectionism,[14]cultural conservatism, a morerealist foreign policy, a conspiracist sub-culture, a repudiation ofneoconservatism, reduced efforts to roll back entitlement programs, and a disdain for traditional checks and balances.[2]
Many modern conservatives globally in general and in the U.S. in particular opposeenvironmentalism. Conservative beliefs often includeglobal warming denial and opposition towards government action to combat it. They contend that, even if human activity is contributing to climate change, environmental regulation would do more harm than good.[124][125] Many conservatives, such as formerMayor of New York City,Rudy Giuliani, promote usingnuclear fission power overrenewable energy sources.[126][127] Among conservatives who do support government intervention to prevent climate change, they generally prefer market-based policies such as acarbon tax over blanket bans and regulation.
In the past, conservatives have supportedconservation efforts, from the protection of theYosemite Valley, to the creation of theEnvironmental Protection Agency.[128] More recently, conservativeshave opposed environmentalism, often calling environmentalists "tree huggers". Republican Party leaders such asNewt Gingrich andMichele Bachmann advocate the abolition of theEPA, calling it "the job-killing organization of America."[129]
Conservative think tanks since the 1990s have denied the concept of man-madeglobal warming, challenged scientific evidence, publicized what they perceived as beneficial aspects of global warming, and asserted that proposed remedies would do more harm than good.[130][131] The concept ofanthropogenic global warmingcontinues to be an ongoing debate among conservatives in the United States,[132] but most conservatives reject thescientific consensus that climate change is caused by humans. A 2019 poll showed that fewer than 25% of Republicans believed humans were involved in causing global warming.[133]
American conservatives have generally supported deregulation of pollution and reduced restrictions on carbon emissions.[134] Similarly, they have advocated increased oil drilling with less regulatory interference, including oil drilling in theArctic National Wildlife Refuge.[135] In the 2008 election, the phrase, "Drill baby drill" was used to express the Republican position on the subject.[136]
PresidentDonald Trump rolled back over 100 Obama-administration rules regarding the environment. President Trump also announced that the U.S. would stop making payments to the United Nations program "Green Climate Fund".[137]
Conservatives generally support a strong policy oflaw and order to control crime, including long jail terms for repeat offenders. Most support thedeath penalty for particularly egregious crimes. Conservatives often opposecriminal justice reform, including efforts to combatracial profiling,police brutality,mass incarceration, and theWar on drugs. They deny that racism exists in the criminal justice system,[citation needed] often opposing organizations such asBlack Lives Matter, which they view as anti-police groups.[138] To conservatives, police officers are reacting to violent situations in a rational way, and have been the victims of unfair discrimination. The "law and order" issue was a major factor weakening liberalism in the 1960s.[139]
Conservatives tend to beopposed to immigration,[140] particularlyillegal immigration.[141]
American conservative discourse generally opposes asocial market economy, due to opposing thewelfare state. In this view, government programs that seek to provide services and opportunities for the poor encourage laziness and dependence while reducing self-reliance and personal responsibility. Conservatives typically hold that the government should play a smaller role in regulating business and managing the economy. They typically supporteconomic liberalization and opposewelfare programs to redistribute income to assist the poor. Such efforts, they argue, do not properly reward people who have earned their money through hard work. However, conservatives usually place a strong emphasis on the role of private voluntary charitable organizations (especially faith-based charities) in helping the poor.[142][143]
Fiscal conservatives supportprivatization, believing that the private sector is more effective than the public sector. Many supportschool vouchers forprivate schools, due to a belief that the performance of thepublic school system and teachers' unions is declining.[144] They also favorprivate health care while opposing auniversal health care system, claiming it constitutessocialized medicine. They often advocate for cuts toSocial Security,Medicare, andMedicaid.[145]
Modern conservatives derive support for free markets from practical grounds. They argue that free markets are the most productive markets. But, many modern American fiscal conservatives accept some social spending programs not specifically delineated in the Constitution. Some American fiscal conservatives view wider social liberalism as an impetus for increased spending on these programs. As such, fiscal conservatism today exists somewhere between classical liberalism and contemporary consequentialist political philosophies.[146][147]
Some conservatives opposefree trade policies and supportprotectionism andimmigration reduction instead. They want government intervention to support the economy by protecting American jobs and businesses from foreign competition. They oppose free trade on the ground that it benefits other countries with lower wages or unfair trade practices (i.e.state-owned enterprises orstate-provided subsidies) at the expense of American workers. They tend to support other free market principles like low taxes, limited government and balanced budgets.[146]
On social issues, many religious conservatives oppose changes in traditional moral standards regardingfamily,sexuality, andgender roles. They often opposeabortion,feminism,pornography,comprehensive sex education,homosexuality,same-sex marriage,transgender rights,secularism,atheism, andrecreational drug use.[24][25][5] The libertarian and fiscal conservative factions tend to instead focus on budgetary, monetary, and economic policies.
Modern conservatives usually oppose programs such asaffirmative action andreparations for slavery, believing thatAmerica is not a racist country.[148] They therefore argue that legislation should becolorblind, with no consideration for race.[149][150] Conservatives often embraceindividualism, rejecting thecollectivism associated withidentity politics. In addition, many right wingnationalists oppose any attempts by liberals to portray America's history, society, or government as racist, considering it unpatriotic. This has been particularly controversial as racial tensions have intensified since the 2010s, with points of contention includingthe 1619 Project, theremoval of Confederate monuments and memorials,reparations for slavery, and thedefund the police movement.[151][152][148][153]
Most conservatives opposeaffirmative action on the basis of race. Conservatives argue that affirmative action is notmeritocratic, believing that job positions and college admissions should be earned through individual achievement rather than group identity. They oppose it as "reverse discrimination" that hinders reconciliation and worsens racial tensions.[154]
In theculture war of recent decades,multiculturalism has been a flashpoint, especially regarding the humanities curriculum. HistorianPeter N. Stearns finds a polarization since the 1960s between conservatives who believe that the humanities express eternal truths that should be taught, and those who think that the humanities curriculum should be tailored to demonstrate diversity.[155] Generally conservatism opposes the "identity politics" associated with multiculturalism, and supportsindividualism.[156]
Cultural conservatives supportmonoculturalism and the preservation oftraditional American culture. They oftenoppose multiculturalism and uncheckedimmigration. They favor amelting pot model ofassimilation into the common English-speaking American culture, as opposed to asalad bowl approach that lends legitimacy to many different cultures.[157][158] In the 21st century, conservatives have warned on the dangers of toleratingradical Islamic elements, of the sort that they say are engaging in large-scale terrorism in Europe.[159]
Ross Douthat, a conservative commentator, argues that as liberalism becomes more dominant, conservatism should work to conserve basic values against liberal assault. In 2021, he wrote:[160]
Conservatism-under-liberalism should defend human goods that are threatened by liberal ideas taken to extremes. The family, when liberal freedom becomes a corrosive hyper-individualism. Traditional religion, when liberal toleration becomes a militant and superstitious secularism. Local community and local knowledge, against expert certainty and bureaucratic centralization. Artistic and intellectual greatness, when democratic taste turns philistine or liberal intellectuals become apparatchiks. The individual talent of the entrepreneur or businessman, against the leveling impulses of egalitarianism and the stultifying power of monopoly.
According to a 2025Gallup poll, 37% of American voters identify as "conservative" or "very conservative", 34% as "moderate", and 25% as "liberal" or "very liberal".[161] These percentages were fairly constant from 1990 to 2009,[162] when conservatism spiked in popularity briefly,[163] before reverting to the original trend, while liberal views on social issues reached a new high. For Republicans, 77% self-identified as conservative, 18% as moderate, and 4% as liberal. For Democrats, 9% identified as conservative, 34% as moderate, and 55% as liberal.
In the 21st century, conservatism appears to be growing stronger at the state level. In 2011,Richard Florida, a contributing writer toThe Atlantic wrote that the trend is most pronounced among the "least well-off, least educated, most blue collar, most economically hard-hit states".[164][165]
In the United States, theRepublican Party has been the party of conservatism since the middle of 1963 when the conservatives largely took control. When President Kennedy announced his intention to advance theCivil Rights Act he alienated the then-Democrat white conservatives in the South who strongly opposed thecivil rights movement.[166] Between 1960 and 2000, the White South moved from 3-1 Democratic to 3-1 Republican.[167]
In addition, some American libertarians, in theLibertarian Party and even some in the Republican Party, see themselves as conservative, even though they advocate significant economic and social changes—for instance, further dismantling thewelfare system or liberalizing drug policy. They see these as conservative policies because they conform to the spirit of individual liberty that they consider to be a traditional American value. However, many libertarian think-tanks such as theCato Institute, and libertarian intellectuals such asDavid Boaz describe libertarianism as being "socially liberal and fiscally conservative".[168][169]
Alaska, theSouth, theGreat Plains, parts of theMountain states andMidwest are generally conservative strongholds; inMississippi, for instance, half of respondents identified themselves as conservatives, as opposed to moderates and liberals. TheNortheast, parts of theGreat Lakes region andSouthwest, andWest Coast are the main liberal strongholds; the fraction ofMassachusetts self-identified conservatives being as low as 21%.[170]
In the 21st century, rural areas of the United States that are predominantlynon-college educated, Christian, andWhite are generally conservative bastions.[171] Voters in the urban cores of large metropolitan areas tend to be more liberal and Democratic. There is a clearurban–rural political divide within and among states.[172]
Russell Kirk developed six "canons" of conservatism, which Gerald J. Russello described as follows:
Kirk said that Christianity andWestern civilization are "unimaginable apart from one another"[174] and that "all culture arises out of religion. When religious faith decays, culture must decline, though often seeming to flourish for a space after the religion which has nourished it has sunk into disbelief."[175]
In later works, Kirk expanded this list into his "Ten Principles of Conservatism"[176] which are as follows:
One stream of conservatism exemplified byWilliam Howard Taft extols independent judges as experts in fairness and the final arbiters of the Constitution. In 1910,Theodore Roosevelt broke with most of his lawyer friends and called for popular votes that could overturn unwelcome decisions by state courts. Taft denounced his old friend and rallied conservatives to defeat him for the 1912 GOP nomination. Taft and the conservative Republicans controlled the Supreme Court until the late 1930s.[177][178]
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, a liberal Democrat, did not attack theSupreme Court directly in 1937, but ignited a firestorm of protest by a proposal to add seven new justices. Conservative Democrats immediately broke with President Roosevelt, defeated his proposal, and built up theconservative coalition. While the liberals did take over the Court through replacements, they lost control of Congress. That is, the Court no longer overthrew liberal laws passed by Congress, but there were very few such laws that passed in 1937–60.[179]
Conservatives' views of the courts are based on their beliefs: maintaining the present state of affairs, conventional and rule-oriented, and disapproval of government power.[180] A recent variant of conservatism condemns "judicial activism"; that is, judges using their decisions to control policy, along the lines of theWarren Court in the 1960s. It came under conservative attack for decisions regarding redistricting, desegregation, and the rights of those accused of crimes. This position goes back to Jefferson's vehement attacks on federal judges and toAbraham Lincoln's attacks on theDred Scott decision of 1857.[181][182]
A more recent variant that emerged in the 1980s isoriginalism, the assertion that theUnited States Constitution should be interpreted to the maximum extent possible in the light of what it meant when it was adopted. Originalism should not be confused with a similar conservative ideology,strict constructionism, which deals with the interpretation of the Constitution as written, but not necessarily within the context of the time when it was adopted. For example, the term originalism has been used by current Supreme Court justicesSamuel Alito andClarence Thomas, as well as former federal judgesRobert Bork andAntonin Scalia to explain their beliefs.[183]
Former Supreme Court JusticeSandra Day O'Connor, writing for the majority inGregory v. Ashcroft 501 U.S. 452 (1991), said there are significant advantages to federalism and the recognition of state rights:
The federalist structure of joint sovereigns preserves to the people numerous advantages. It assures a decentralized government that will be more sensitive to the diverse needs of a heterogeneous society; it increases opportunity for citizen involvement in democratic processes; it allows for more innovation and experimentation in government; and it makes government more responsive by putting the States in competition for a mobile citizenry.[184]
From the left, law professor Herman Schwartz argues that Rehnquist's reliance on federalism and state's rights has been a "Fig Leaf for conservatives":
Today's conservative Supreme Court majority, led by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, has imposed limitations on federal power to curtail the rights of women, religious groups, the elderly, racial minorities, and other disadvantaged groups. ... The conservatives have shrunk the scope of the commerce clause, developed implied limitations on federal authority, and narrowly construed the Civil War amendments.[185]
Conservatives have used the wordSocialist as a "rhetorical weapon" against political opponents.[186][187] David Hinshaw writes thatWilliam Allen White, editor of a small-town newspaper in Kansas from 1895, used "socialistic" as "his big gun to blast radical opposition".[188] White set "Americanism" as the alternative, warning: "The election will sustain Americanism or it will plant Socialism." White became famous whenMark Hanna, campaign manager for Republican candidateWilliam McKinley distributed upwards of a million or more copies of one White editorial to rally opposition toWilliam Jennings Bryan, the nominee of both the Democratic and Populist parties.[189][190]
By the 1950s, the conservative press had discovered thatsocialism "proved to be a successful derogatory epithet rather than a descriptive label for a meaningful political alternative".[191] At the 1952 Republican national convention, former PresidentHerbert Hoover repeated his warnings about two decades of New Deal policies, denouncing, says Gary Best, "The usurpation of power by the federal government, the loss of freedom in America, the poisoning of the American economy with fascism, socialism, and Keynesianism, the enormous growth of the federal bureaucracy".[192] In 1960,Barry Goldwater called for Republican unity againstJohn F. Kennedy and the "blueprint for socialism presented by the Democrats".[193] In 1964, Goldwater attacked central planners like fellow RepublicanNelson Rockefeller, implying he was a socialist in a millionaire's garb: "The Democratic party believes in what I call socialism: and if that upsets anybody's stomach, let me remind you that central planning of our economy is socialism."[194]Ronald Reagan often quotedNorman Thomas, the perennial Socialist nominee for president in the New Deal era, as allegedly saying: "The American people would never knowingly vote for Socialism, but that under the name of liberalism, they would adopt every fragment of the socialist program."[195][196][197] In 2010,Newt Gingrich defined "socialism in the broad sense" as "a government-dominated, bureaucratically controlled, politician-dictated way of life".[198] Gingrich stated that PresidentBarack Obama was "committed to socialism".[198]
Conservatives gained a major new communications medium with theresurgence oftalk radio in the late 1980s. William G. Mayer, reports that "conservatives dominate talk radio to an overwhelming, remarkable degree".[199] This dominance enabled them to spread their message much more effectively to the general public, which had previously been confined to the majorBig Three television networks. Political scientists Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj conclude that, "conservatives like talk radio because they believe it tells them the truth. Liberals appear to be much more satisfied with the mainstream media and are more likely to believe that it is accurate."[200]
Rush Limbaugh proved there was a huge nationwide audience for specific and heated discussions of current events from a conservative viewpoint. Other major hosts who describe themselves as conservative include:Michael Peroutka,Jim Quinn,Dennis Miller,Ben Ferguson,William Bennett,Andrew Wilkow,Lars Larson,Sean Hannity,G. Gordon Liddy,Laura Ingraham,Mike Church,Glenn Beck,Mark Levin,Michael Savage,Kim Peterson,Ben Shapiro,Michael Reagan,Jason Lewis,Ken Hamblin, andHerman Cain.[201] TheSalem Radio Network syndicates a group of religiously oriented Republican activists, includingRoman CatholicHugh Hewitt, and Jewish conservativesDennis Prager andMichael Medved. One popular Jewish conservative,Laura Schlessinger, offers parental and personal advice, but is outspoken on social and political issues. In 2011, the largest weekly audiences for talk radio were 15 million for Limbaugh and 14 million for Hannity, with about nine million each for Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Mark Levin. The audiences overlap, depending on how many each listener dials into every week.[202]
Fox News features conservative hosts.[203] One such host is Sean Hannity, who also has a talk radio program.[204] One former host isMatt Drudge;[205] prior, and after his time on Fox News Drudge has operatedDrudge Report, a news aggregation website, and is a self-professed conservative.[206] It is more conservative than other news sources in the United States, such asNational Public Radio andCNN.[207]Canadian-American political commentatorDavid Frum has been a critic of this development, and has argued that the influence of conservative talk radio and Fox News has harmed American conservatism, turning it from "a political philosophy into a market segment" for extremism and conflict making "for bad politics but great TV".[208]
Whereas liberals and conservatives held similar attitudes towards science up until the 1990s, conservatives in the United States subsequently began to display lower levels of confidence in scientific consensus.[209][210][211][212] Conservatives are substantially more likely than moderates and liberals to reject the scientific consensus on climate change.[213][214][212] Conservatives are also more likely than liberals to hold anti-vaccine views.[215]
According to a 2023Gallup poll, confidence in higher education among Republicans declined sharply from 56% in 2015 to 19% in 2023. Among Democrats, confidence in higher education decreased from 68% in 2015 to 59% in 2023.[216]
The Republican Party has steadily increased the percentage of votes it receives from white voters without college degrees since the 1970s, even as theeducational attainment of the United States has steadily increased.[122] Since the 2010s, a similar trend in the opposite direction has been seen among white voters with college degrees, who have been increasingly voting for the Democratic Party.[217][218]
Liberal and leftist viewpoints have dominated higher education faculties since the 1970s, according to many studies,[219][220][221] whereas conservatives are better represented in policy-orientedthink tanks. Data from a survey conducted in 2004 indicated that 72% of full-time faculty identify as liberal,[222] while 9–18% self-identify as conservative. Conservative self-identification is higher in two-year colleges than other categories of higher education but has been declining overall.[223] Those in natural sciences, engineering, and business were less liberal than those in the social sciences and humanities. A 2005 study found that liberal views had increased compared to the older studies. 15% in the survey described themselves ascenter-right. While thehumanities and thesocial sciences are still the most left leaning, 67% of those in other fields combined described themselves ascenter-left on thespectrum. In business and engineering, liberals outnumber conservatives by a 2:1 ratio. The study also found that more women, practicing Christians, and Republicans taught at lower ranked schools than would be expected from objectively measured professional accomplishments.[224][225]
A study by psychologists atTilburg University, published in September 2012 in the journalPerspectives on Psychological Science, found that, in social and personal psychology,[226] about a third of those surveyed say that they would to a small extent favor a liberal point of view over a conservative point of view.[227] A 2007 poll found that 58% of Americans thought thatcollege professors' political bias was a "serious problem". This varied depending on the political views of those asked. 91% of "very conservative" adults agreed compared with only 3% of liberals.[228] That same year, a documentary calledIndoctrinate U was released, which focuses on the perceived bias within academia.[229][230][231]
On the other hand, liberal criticPaul Krugman wrote inThe New York Times that this phenomenon is more due to personal choice than some kind of discrimination or conspiracy, noting that, for example, vocations such as military officers are much more likely to be filled by conservatives rather than liberals.[232] Additionally, two studies published in the journal of theAmerican Political Science Association have suggested that thepolitical orientations of college students' professors have little influence or "indoctrination" in terms of students' political belief.[233]
Postmodernism is an approach common in the humanities at universities that greatly troubles conservative intellectuals.[234][235] The point of contention is the debate overmoral relativism versusmoral absolutism. Ellen Grigsby says, "Postmodern perspectives contend that any ideology putting forward absolute statements as timeless truths should be viewed with profound skepticism."[236] Kellner says, "Postmodern discourse frequently argues that all discourses and values are socially constructed and laden with interests and biases. Against postmodern and liberal relativism, cultural conservatives have argued for values of universal truth and absolute standards of right and wrong."[237]
Neoconservative historianGertrude Himmelfarb has energetically rejected postmodern academic approaches:
[Postmodernism in history] is a denial of the objectivity of the historian, of the factuality or reality of the past, and thus of the possibility of arriving at any truths about the past. For all disciplines it induces a radical skepticism, relativism, and subjectivism that denies not this or that truth about any subject but the very idea of truth—that denies even the ideal of truth, truth is something to aspire to even if it can never be fully attained.[238]
Jay Stevenson wrote the following representative summary of postmodern literary studies of the sort that antagonize conservatives:
[In the postmodern period,] traditional literature has been found to have been written by "dead white males" to serve theideological aims of a conservative and repressive Anglohegemony. ... In an array of reactions against the race, gender, and class biases found to be woven into the tradition of Anglo lit, multicultural writers and political literary theorists have sought to expose, resist, and redress injustices and prejudices. These prejudices are often covert—disguised in literature and other discourses as positive ideals and objective truths—but they slant our sense of reality in favor of power and privilege.[239]
Conservative intellectuals have championed a "high conservativemodernism" that insists that universal truths exist, and have opposed approaches that deny the existence of universal truths.[240] Many argued thatnatural law was the repository of timeless truths.[241]Allan Bloom, in his highly influentialThe Closing of the American Mind (1987) argues that moral degradation results from ignorance of the greatclassics that shapedWestern culture. His book was widely cited by conservative intellectuals for its argument that the classics contained universal truths and timeless values which were being ignored bycultural relativists.[242][243]
InPostwar American Fiction and the Rise of Modern Conservatism: A Literary History, 1945 - 2008 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Bryan M. Santin argues that conservative literary tastes have shifted over time. He argues that this
shift registered and mediated the deeper foundational antinomy structuring postwar conservatism itself: the stable social order of traditionalism and the creative destruction of free-market capitalism. Postwar conservatives produced, in effect, an ambivalent double register in the discourse of conservative literary taste that sought to celebrate neo-aristocratic manifestations of cultural capital while condemning newer, more progressive manifestations revolving around racial and ethnic diversity.[244]
In recent years, historians have agreed that they need to rethink the role of conservatism in recent American history.[245] An important new approach rejects the older consensus that liberalism was the dominant ethos. Labor historians Jefferson Cowie and Nick Salvatore argue the New Deal was a short-term response to the depression and did not mark a permanent commitment to awelfare state, claiming that America has always been too individualistic and too hostile to labor unions to ever embrace liberalism for any extended period of time. This new interpretation argues that conservatism has largely dominated American politics since the 1920s, with the brief exceptions of the New Deal era (1933–1938) and the Great Society (1964–1966).[246] However, historian Julian Zelizer argues that "The coherence of conservatism has been exaggerated. The movement was as fragile as the New Deal coalition that it replaced. ... Policy change has thus proved to be much more difficult than conservatives hoped for."[247] Zelizer does find four areas where conservatives did make major changes, namely retrenchment of domestic programs, lowering taxes, deregulation, and opposition to labor unions. He concludes, "The fact is that liberalism survived the rise of conservatism."[248]
American conservatives typically promoteAmerican exceptionalism, the idea that the United States is inherently exceptional and has a duty to lead in spreading democracy and free markets to the world. Reagan was an advocate of American exceptionalism, and many liberals also agree with it.[249][250] Proponents of American exceptionalism believe that the American values that emerged from theAmerican Revolution created whatHarvard University political scientist and sociologistSeymour Martin Lipset, in 1963, called "the first new nation"[251] and developing a uniquely American ideology, "Americanism", based onliberty,egalitarianism,individualism,republicanism,democracy,laissez-fairecapitalism andJudeo-Christian values.[3][252] American exceptionalism does not mean that the United States is superior to other nations, though some conservatives have used the phrase in that context.[253][254]
American conservatives also have argued that the U.S. is a "City upon a Hill", a phraseJesus used in theSermon on the Mount and which is attributed to Jesus in theGospel of Matthew.[255][256] Beginning in 1630, the phrase "city upon a hill" was used frequently byPuritan settlers in theProvince of Massachusetts Bay during thecolonial era, who believed America was exempted from the historical forces that have impacted other nations.[257] In January 1989, in his farewell address to the nation,Ronald Reagan also cited the phrase, saying, "the past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the 'shining city upon a hill'. The phrase comes fromJohn Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free[258]
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In 1956,Clinton Rossiter, a professor ofpolitical science atCornell University, publishedConservatism in America, which he summarized in an article, "The Giants of American Conservatism", published inAmerican Heritage magazine.[259] His goal was to identify the "great men who did conservative deeds, thought conservative thoughts, practiced conservative virtues, and stood for conservative principles". To Rossiter, conservatism was defined by the rule of the upper class. He wrote, "The Right of these freewheeling decades was a genuine Right: it was led by the rich and well-placed; it was skeptical of popular government; it was opposed to all parties, unions, leagues, or other movements that sought to invade its positions of power and profit; it was politically, socially, and culturally anti-radical."
Rossiter's "giants of American conservatism" includeJohn Adams,Alexander Hamilton,John Marshall,Daniel Webster,John C. Calhoun,Elihu Root, andTheodore Roosevelt. He added thatGeorge Washington andAbraham Lincoln transcended political ideology, but that conservatives "may argue with some conviction that Washington and Lincoln can also be added to his list."[259] Among fathers of theU.S. Constitution, which Rossiter calls "a triumph of conservative statesmanship", he said conservatives may "take special pride" inJames Madison,James Wilson,Roger Sherman,John Dickinson,Gouverneur Morris, and the Pinckneys of South Carolina. For the early 19th century, Rossiter said the libertarians and constitutionalists who deserve credit for leading the fight againstJacksonian democracy areJoseph Story andJosiah Quincy inMassachusetts,James Kent inNew York, andJames Madison,James Monroe, andJohn Randolph of Roanoke inVirginia.[259]
At the end of the 19th century, Rossiter says,Grover Cleveland,Elihu Root,William Howard Taft, andTheodore Roosevelt "were most successful in shaping the old truths of conservatism to the new facts of industrialism and democracy". In what Rossiter called the "Great Train Robbery of Intellectual History", he says conservatives appropriated the themes of classical liberalism, especially liberty, opportunity, progress, and individualism, and packaged them into an ideology that supported the property rights of big corporations.[260] Writing in 1955, Rossiter suggested thatRobert A. Taft,Charles Evans Hughes, andDwight D. Eisenhower may someday be added to the list.[259]
Conservatism abroad
The conservative veneration of individual autonomy...
To traditional conservatives, there most definitely are moral absolutes and they can most definitely and definitively identify those moral absolutes.
Social conservatives focus on moral or values issues, such as abortion, marriage, school prayer, and judicial appointments.
For most conservatives, if there is a common culprit in explaining society's descent into moral chaos, then it is relativism—the notion that there are no absolute values or standards, merely different interpretations, and perspectives.
Conservatives had a fear of Communism shared by most Americans. During this time a popular anti-Communist culture emerged in America, evident in movies, television programs, community activities, and grassroots organizations. This popular anti-Communist culture generated patriotic rallies, parades, city resolutions, and an array of anti—Communist groups concerned about Communist influence in the schools, textbooks, churches, labor unions, industry, and universities.
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{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Modern American conservatism is not, and has never been, monolithic. It is a coalition with many points of origin and diverse tendencies that are not always easy to reconcile.
Against accusations of being pre-modern or even anti-modern in outlook, paleoconservatives press for restrictions on immigration, a rollback ofmulticultural programmes, the decentralization of the federal polity, the restoration of controls upon free trade, a greater emphasis upon economic nationalism andisolationism in the conduct of American foreign policy, and a generallyrevanchist outlook upon a social order in need of recovering old lines of distinction and in particular the assignment of roles in accordance with traditional categories of gender, ethnicity, and race.
'If you tax wealth,' said Quayle, 'you diminish wealth. If you diminish wealth, you diminish investment. The fewer the investments, the fewer [the] jobs.' Low taxes equal more jobs; low taxes are as good for the working class as the business class. ... If the state is necessary, suggest Quayle, keep it small.
The most sweeping account of how neoliberalism came to dominate American politics for nearly a half century before crashing against the forces of Trumpism on the right and a new progressivism on the left.
Democrats have become the home of highly-educated citizens with progressive social views who prefer credentialed experts to make policy decisions, while Republicans have become the populist champions of white voters without college degrees who increasingly distrust teachers, scientists, journalists, universities, non-profit organizations, and even corporations.
All Major Subgroups, Led by Republicans, Less Confident in Higher Ed
