page_title: Political ideologies in the United States
section_title: Prominent ideologies
hierarchical_section_title: Political ideologies in the United States / Prominent ideologies
context_page_description: Political ideologies in the United States refers to the various ideologies and ideological demographics in the United States. Citizens in the United States generally classify themselves as adherent to positions along the political spectrum as either liberal, progressive, moderate, or conservative. Modern American liberalism aims at the preservation and extension of human, social and civil rights as well as the government guaranteed provision of positive rights. It combines social progressivism and to some extent ordoliberalism and is highly similar to European social liberalism. American conservatism commonly refers to a combination of economic liberalism and libertarianism and social conservatism. It aims at protecting the concepts of small government and individual liberty while promoting traditional values on some social issues.
  The ideological position a person or party takes may be explained in terms of social and economic policy. The ideological positions a person assumes on social and economic policy issues may differ in their position on the political spectrum.
context_section_description: Beyond the simple left–right analysis, liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism and populism are the four most common ideologies in the United States, apart from those who identify as moderate. Individuals embrace each ideology to widely varying extents. Liberals and progressives traditionally advocate strong civil liberties, social progressivism, cultural pluralism and a mixed economy featuring more government intervention in the economy and social life (such as education and health care) than supported by most other Americans. Conservatives commonly defend the notional status quo of some point in the past, believing that the United States has deviated significantly from it and advocating more traditional stands on social issues, protection of gun rights and less government intervention in the economy. Libertarians, or classical liberals, tend to support strong civil liberties, peace, more freedom of choice including economic freedom and are skeptical of government's ability to solve problems.
  Moderates incorporate different aspects from liberalism and conservatism into their personal perspective. According to recent polls, moderates are commonly identified as the second largest group, closely trailing conservatives, constituting between 36% and 39% of the population. Moderates are commonly defined through limiting the extent to which they adopt liberal and conservative ideas. CNN exit polls have found moderates to be rather evenly divided between the country's two main parties.
  Even though liberals as a whole tend to be the most educated ideological demographic (as indicated by the Pew Research Center), moderates tend to become increasingly conservative with increased economic prosperity, causing the professional class to be split between Republicans and Democrats. Among those who do identify as either liberal or conservative, few identify as "far left" or "far right". Most Americans either identify as "moderate" or as "somewhat" liberal or conservative.
  While often not mentioned in major polls and less organized than liberal or conservatives, libertarians are a significant minority, constituting roughly 13% of the electorate. Libertarians commonly hold liberal views on social issues, but conservative views on economic issues. Since the 1980s, a majority of libertarians have favored the Republican Party, although in recent years the margin favoring the Republicans has begun to shrink because of the libertarians' opposition to many recent Republican supported social issues.
caption: Typological groups according to the Pew Research Center
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