While the media bombards you with Congressional testimonies, a summit with North Korea and the general onslaught of Trump derangement syndrome, something important snuck past your notice. America has changed over the past two years, and that change has largely been for the better.
The squabbling makes it feel like things are bad, and the media wants to convince you that everything in the world is a desperate crisis (except the U.S.-Mexico border of course). As things have actually been steadily improving, most Americans have noticed. A new poll that you haven’t seen yet shows this. Despite everything you’ve been told, conservatism is on the rise in this country.
The New Gallup Poll
No polling agency is going to be without bias, and as you’ve probably seen, Gallup tends to lean left. They’re not the worst offenders, but it’s enough that you can assume any of their polls that favor Republicans, conservatives or the right will probably downplay reality. Keep that in mind when you read these numbers from their latest poll.
The questionnaire was extremely simple. It asked respondents if they consider themselves liberal or conservative. They could also identify as neither or moderate. With those options available, Gallup found that 35 percent of Americans identify as conservative. Considering there are four options, this suggests that this number is a plurality.
At the same time, nationwide, the poll found that only 26 percent of Americans identify as liberal. That’s a nine-point difference, and it’s a huge slap in the face to the narrative that America is a liberal country.
When you break the poll down by state it gets even more interesting. Only six states leaned liberal: Hawaii, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont and Washington. You might notice that California is absent from this list. It actually came in perfectly neutral, with 29 percent of respondents in both the liberal and conservative categories.
It’s also worth noting that this poll is done yearly. At the end of 2017, the same poll had nine states leaning liberal (including California). That number dropped by 33 percent. That’s a huge swing in favor of conservatism.
Lastly, we have to consider how liberal or conservative states are. The most liberal state in the survey was Massachusetts with a margin of 14 percent. The most conservative state was Mississippi with a 38-percent difference between the two camps. In fact, 25 states were conservative with a margin of 20 points or more. That means that conservatives outnumber liberals by huge swaths in most of the country, and the reverse is pretty much never true.
A Moment of Caution
There’s a fat elephant in this room. The nature of this poll is in self-identification. It’s important to acknowledge that considering yourself conservative on the Harvard campus is quite different from doing the same in the oil fields of Texas. When you’re surrounded by progressive extremists, you might consider yourself conservative because you’re against open infanticide, but you could still be in favor of abortions up until birth. There’s some relativity to consider in all of this. Some of the shift towards conservatism could actually be measuring the increased extremity of the far left.
Even while we acknowledge that, it’s important to understand that relativity won’t explain it all away. When the national response shifts by this much, at least some of that will be because conservative views are gaining popularity. That is the most surprising and encouraging part of this survey. Despite everything, most Americans actually have noticed the success of conservative policy over the last two years.
Why the Media is Scared
Regardless, this story has been squashed by mainstream media. They’ve reported thousands of Gallup polls over the years, but they won’t touch this, and it’s obvious why. A move towards conservatism is bad for them. A move towards conservatism during the Trump era is infinitely worse. They’ve never fought so desperately for power, and they’re steadily losing it without any of the oppression they claim is upon them. No political or legal action has been taken against the mainstream media. Instead, they’ve consistently hung themselves.
This drives into the heart of the issue. America is more conservative today than it was two years ago, and that has happened under the leadership of President Trump. There are two likely reasons why. First, the economy is much better than it was a few years ago. No matter how hard the left screams, people don’t ignore the numbers in their own bank accounts. Conservative leadership has done better by the people, and the people have noticed.
The second reason for this shift is the mainstream media. Every dire prediction they’ve made about President Trump and Republican leadership has proven false. When you have to trust one side or the other, the right has proven themselves through conduct. The harder the extremists try to push everyone left, the more the people walk away and embrace conservatism.
Here’s the ultimate takeaway. For the last 10 years, you’ve been told that you are alone. The oppressive, relentless narrative is that conservatism is dying, and holding onto it makes you an evil bigot. Everyone else has embraced liberalism. Why are you so resistant?
They told these lies so convincingly that many started to believe them. They are outright lies, and we can now prove that mathematically. Conservatism isn’t dying; it’s on the rise. It’s ok to be conservative, and speaking up with the truth will help more of the silent majority come forward. The liberals have already lost. We just have to notice.