Battleground poll results – 59 percent very or somewhat conservative

The Terrance Group and Lake Research Partners recently released the results for the George Washington University Battleground Poll taken in July. The fall 2008 results showed 57 percent considered themselves very conservative or somewhat conservative. July 2009 results show a 2 point jump to 59 percent. We remain a pretty conservative country.

I bring this up since I’ve been reading about the recent Gallup results mentioned over at Malkin’s blog, Power Line, and the Strata Sphere.

Update: Thanks to Jim at Gateway Pundit who has more.

Why is the Battleground poll important? The group is made up of two poll groups from different sides of the political spectrum and they have been asking the same question since at least Oct. 2004. When I saw the Gallup stuff the last few days, I started to think about Battleground and sure enough, they just finished up the July 29, 2009 version [PDF, 75kb] and question D3 is still on the list.

Question D3 is unique, since it really does not pigeon-hole you into a specific group, it actually allows you to pick the oh-so-politically-correct moderate status or claim you are unsure.

Question: When thinking about politics and government, do you consider yourself to be…

• Very conservative
• Somewhat conservative
• Moderate
• Somewhat liberal
• Very liberal
• Unsure/Refused to answer

Interesting poll question don’t you think? Click here for the past results of the Battleground poll.

Do take the time to dig into the full PDF of the results, but I’ve also uploaded the analysis charts for your review. The poll surveys 1,000 likely voters.

Here is a screenshot of the current results from question D3, click for the full size.

For a historical perspective, I’ve provided the results for the current poll and five previous polls in the graphic below. What this comes down to is that – when it comes to thinking about politics and government – it is not easy to shift one’s core beliefs. We have been and continue to be a conservative to very conservative nation.

Although the number of respondents who answered D3 stating they were somewhat or very conservative increased 2 percentage points, I really do not think this is a direct result of the Obama administration policies during the first six months of their administration. To me, it looks like the trend line is not moving too much. In the 2004 and 2006 surveys, 59 percent identified themselves as somewhat or very conservative – same as today.

Maybe the Bush hatred or the Obama love drove the percentage down to 57 percent in the fall, but we’re right back where we have been. I’ll be interested as always to check out the next result for question D3. If it pops to 61 percent, we may have more to discuss.

Other interesting results…

• 51% think the country is on the wrong track, 38% right track
• Job rating – 40% strongly approve of President Obama and 37% disapprove strongly
• Congress job approval – 57% disapprove, and 34% approve
• Only 10% of Democrats have an unfavorable impression of Democrats in Congress, 25% of Republicans have an unfavorable impression of Republicans in Congress
• 35% prefer a health care reform plan that raises taxes and provides universal coverage, 37% prefer no more taxes and no universal coverage

Again, take the time to go through the poll results and the analysis charts.