Thirty-eight percent of Americans now identify as “very conservative” or “conservative” on social issues, a level unseen since 2012, according to a new Gallup poll.
The percentage of Americans saying they have “very liberal” or “liberal” views on social issues has fallen from 34 percent to 29 percent in the last two years. Thirty-one percent of Americans identified their views on social issues as “moderate.”
Republicans had the largest shift toward social conservatism, with 74 percent saying their social views are conservative, a 14-point increase from 2021. Twenty-nine percent of independents said the same, up from 24 percent two years ago. Just ten percent of Democrats said they have conservative social views, a figure that remained unchanged from 2021 to 2023.
The biggest increases in social conservative ideology have been among middle-aged adults, Gallup found. In 2023, 35 percent of Americans ages 30 to 49 said they were “very conservative” or “conservative” on social issues, up 13 points from 22 percent in 2021. There was also a double-digit bump among Americans ages 50 to 64 — 46 percent now say they are “very conservative” or “conservative” on social issues, up 11 points from 35 percent in 2021.