About that Gallup poll

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet  -  Juliet in William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"

I read the recent Gallup poll on American's ideology the other day and chalked it up to another case of confusing labels with ideology.  While polls have consistently shown Americans consider themselves "conservative", drilling a wee bit deeper reveals Americans have decidedly liberal views.  And one not need look further back than the 2008 elections, when Americans overwhelmingly elected a Democratic president and Congress, to question the "depth" of American's conservatism. 

Here's a chart from the poll:

It strikes me that simplified polling terms like "conservative" and "liberal" might be ultimately misleading and American's response to the rather simple question is invariably going to be influenced by political party marketing, the news of the day, and peer pressure.

I used Juliet's line at the beginning of the post to suggest what folks call their ideology is far less significant than how they end up voting.  There's another famous saying that's equally apropos:

"Call me anything you want.  Just don't call me late for dinner"