FoxNews’ national exit poll found that liberals made up 25% of the electorate, moderates approximately 40%, and conservatives 35%. Self-identified conservatives outnumbered liberals in the presidential vote by just ten points, which is a far cry from a two-to-one advantage. That’s consistent with what other organizations found. Will’s 2-to-1 figure can be found in other surveys of ideological self-identification, and it’s true that a person’s self-identification is not always a reliable indicator how he votes or what policies he favors.
This is completely true. My father identifies as Conservative and is the most proud, staunch Conservative you can find anywhere. At the same time, he was on the phone with me five times a day during the weeks before the election, nervous about every tiny shift of the polls away from Obama. I was even worried for his health in case Obama didn’t win.
The reason for this is that my father is an old-school Conservative of the kind we don’t see on Fox News. A deeply religious person, he hates it when people try to mix religion and politics. Religion for him is a profoundly intimate set of beliefs that should never be aired in public or forced on others. He also resents the attempts by the government to intrude into people’s bodies and personal lives, so the anti-choice and anti-gay rhetoric of the US Republicans is an instant deal-breaker for him.
As an old-school Conservative, my father is a strong believer in law and order. Maintaining law and order is the crucial role of government in a well-functioning society, he believes, which is why the dismissive comments about “that rape thing” and “legitimate rape” put him off the Republicans faster than lightning. “If they don’t recognize rape as a horrible crime and are willing to make excuses for it, they are no Conservatives,” he says. And, of course, when he heard that his God’s name was taken in vain to justify rape (remember the rape as “a gift from God” comments?), he was livid.
The tragedy of today’s Conservatives is that they don’t have legitimate representation in the US politics. Their movement has been hijacked by hysterics and idiots. So it makes sense to switch over to the Liberal side, especially since Obama is very far to the right on foreign policy and the economy, anyway.
Clarissa's Blog 
I just don’t get the definition of “conservative”/”liberal” that people use in the US. It mixes so many different concepts. I think I know what party your father would vote for in my home country. We have a big party who is pro-economy and against too much welfare, but progressive about things like same-sex marriage and not interested in religion. They do not include any crazy right-wing idiots. Those have their own party, and the *religious* right-wing idiots have yet another party. We certainly have as much people with stupid ideas as there are in the US, but I think it is nice that they are neatly organized in their own parties and thus easily recognizable as crazy. On the other hand, I am sure traditionally Republicans include many reasonable people.
Why can the US not have some more parties? I would really be curious about the historical reasons for this. Why do most other countries have many parties, and the US just two?
LikeLike
The reason that politics in America are so different from other parts of the world is because our cultural mindset is based on professional competitive sports and everything is seen through the lens of “our team” and “their team.” Since we are also a revenge-and-hatred based culture, “our team” is the team of Real Human Beings, and Their Team is the one of demonic monster creatures that will rape your sister and eat your children.
LikeLike
“The reason that politics in America are so different from other parts of the world is because our cultural mindset is based on professional competitive sports and everything is seen through the lens of “our team” and “their team.” Since we are also a revenge-and-hatred based culture, “our team” is the team of Real Human Beings, and Their Team is the one of demonic monster creatures that will rape your sister and eat your children.”
– This is a VERY interesting analysis. I haven’t thought about the issue this way. I’m glad you are back!!!
LikeLike
The sports analogy is interesting. Maybe the problem is that people do not want to vote for a small party in America, because the culture is more about “winning”, and the small party cannot win?
This kind of “them vs. us” thinking is exactly the same thing that makes the nationalistic-conservative parties in Europe so successful. They are also based on hatred and that works perfectly because people love to express their hatred at an election… I guess that is the same everywhere.
LikeLike
Europe is paying the price for grievously mishandling its immigration policies. The result is now the rise of fascist-type rhetoric and parties. And that’s a horrible shame.
LikeLike
“Europe is paying the price for grievously mishandling its immigration policies.”
I am not sure if I agree with this. The regions with the least immigrants are often those most fiercely supporting the nationalistic parties. Much of it is just fear-mongering, and not a sign that the immigrant policies are really a disaster. Sure there are some areas where it has gone wrong, but everything together the immigrants have a very positive impact on the rich countries in Europe and are crucial for the economy… without immigrants we would soon only consist of retired people. 🙂 But of course the right-wingers love to attack the immigrants and demonize them for their purposes.
LikeLike
I’m the last person to attack immigrants given that I am myself an immigrant. 🙂 I don’t think immigrants are the problem. I think the immigration policies are. As you just said, they are driven by the fears of low birth rates in Europe. This becomes the only or almost the only criterion of selecting immigrants who can come in. And that’s an enormous mistake on any kind of level.
Not a single country in Western Europe would have even considered accepting me as an immigrant for the simple reason that I’m unlikely to produce 10 children. I’m a productive citizen, law-abiding, pay very good taxes but I’m not wanted and never was wanted in Western Europe because I can’t help alleviate its demographic hysteria. I don’t think that this is a reasonable immigration policy.
LikeLike
As far as I know immigration to Western Europe has been mostly driven by the demands of the job market, and we have demand for people doing the jobs that the Europeans do not want to do, cleaners, construction workers etc, which happen to be the uneducated people who have most children. But I don’t think we let people in on the basis of their wish to have 10 children. 🙂
I do not understand why the US lets in more skilled people than Europe. Why does this work there but not here? Are we just more afraid of the competition?
LikeLike
“As far as I know immigration to Western Europe has been mostly driven by the demands of the job market, and we have demand for people doing the jobs that the Europeans do not want to do, cleaners, construction workers etc, which happen to be the uneducated people who have most children.”
– Then why does nobody want immigrants from my country? We can cook and clean as well as anybody else. But we traditionally procreate even less than Western Europeans.
“But I don’t think we let people in on the basis of their wish to have 10 children.”
– Not wish but are more likely. I’m seeing that people from countries where women are liberated are not welcome and people from countries where women are are not. There has to be a reason for that.
“I do not understand why the US lets in more skilled people than Europe. ”
– This is completely not true! Unfortunately. My husband who got a PhD from a prestigious US university was threatened with immediate deportation after his student visa expired. The US most certainly does not welcome highly qualified immigrants. I was also threatened with deportation when my contract at Cornell expired. I’m a citizen of Canada which is supposed to mean I can stay in the US with my Canadian passport and no visa. Yet I was harassed by Homeland Security to leave for the 3 months before my new professorial contract would start.
LikeLike
“Then why does nobody want immigrants from my country? We can cook and clean as well as anybody else. But we traditionally procreate even less than Western Europeans.”
Hm. Maybe you have a point. Certainly that is not the official story. 🙂
I actually have no idea how this works in detail. Why does Germany have so many Turkish immigrants, and the Netherlands Maroccans? Do you think if Germany gets an application from a Turkish and an Ukranian they prefer the Turkish one? Or is it just that some company employs a few Turkish workers and if there is demand for more they ask the people they already have for contacts?
So it is Canada, not the US, who is better in accepting highly qualified immigrants? I have been looking at academic job ads in Canada recently and they stated very clearly that they will always prefer a Canadian if they can get one. I guess that is the policy of most countries… sorry for the stress that you had with US immigration. That sounds very annoying.
LikeLike
Yes, Canada at least has professional immigration where qualified professionals can enter the country legally and relatively easily.
“Do you think if Germany gets an application from a Turkish and an Ukranian they prefer the Turkish one”
– The Ukrainians don’t even get a chance to submit an application. We are not wanted by default.
LikeLike
I also have no idea why this two-party system that makes over 40% of all people in the country (and sometimes 60%) completely uninterested in voting still exists in many countries. It’s a sad mystery.
LikeLike
Clarissa, what does your father think of taxes? Or the role of government? Does he believe in a safety net for poor people? Universal healthcare? Sorry, too many questions!
LikeLike
Remember, I’m a teacher, so I love questions. 🙂
My father’s life was saved by the free healthcare system in Canada. He got amazing care and is still getting outpatient care and none of it cost him a dime. If he lived in the US, we would all have had to take out insane loans to save him. One would have to be a millionaire to afford the kind of care he got for free in Canada. So, obviously, the free universal healthcare system like we have in Canada is what he supports.
The role of government, he believes, is to maintain law and order, ensure that the infrastructure (roads, police stations, etc.) function perfectly, and butt out of people’s personal lives altogether. So it’s a very limited but also very strong government.
He also believes that access to higher education should not depend on one’s financial resources.
He really dislikes labor unions but didn’t have a problem with me being a union organizer. 🙂
In terms of taxes, he believes that the best system would be as follows: the minimum-salary folks are left in peace. Everybody else pays a fixed rate of 30% from their income and there are now exemptions, tax credits, rebates, cuts, etc. The entire complicated tax system is gone. The 30% is removed from your earnings automatically and that’s that.
LikeLike
Thanks for your answer.Too bad his views would be labelled as RADICAL LEFTIST by the modern day republican party.
LikeLike
I know, this why the whole thing is so hilarious. 🙂 My father believes he is a classical conservative (he is also completely against private gun ownership) and he hated communism. Yet he’d be considered a total communist by these folks. 🙂 🙂
LikeLike