For anyone trying to make sense of the recent commentary on the rise of conservative self-identification among Americans (I’m thinking of David Broder and Kristen Soltis), a paper by Christopher Ellis and James Stimson provides some critical and under-appreciated background. Their basic point: in contemporary America, the term “conservative” is more of a catch-all than the term “liberal,” in part because many Americans associate it with religious conservatism. The authors identify three different types of conservatives—“constrained conservatives,” “moral conservatives,” and “conflicted conservatives.” While the first group is heavily Republican, the second group backed George W. Bush in 2000 at a rate of 65%. For the conflicted conservatives, the figure was just 51%. To understand the political implications of people’s ideological identification, you need to understand which category they fall into—and what they mean by the term “conservative.”
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