Recap: Pew Research Center has released eight political typology reports since 1987. Its typologies sort Americans into “cohesive, like-minded groups based on their values, beliefs, and views about politics and the political system”. Pew’s latest typology divides the public into nine distinct groups, based on survey responses of 10,221 adults interviewed multiple times in 2020 and 2021. As described in Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology, these groups are:
Faith and Flag Conservatives: highly religious, politically engaged and both socially and economically conservative; favor robust role for religion in public life, smaller role for government, and a strong American military; remain strong supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Committed Conservatives: staunchly conservative and overwhelmingly Republican, hold pro-business views and favorable attitudes about international trade and a limited role of government; approach to international relations centers on engaging with allies and maintaining American military might.
Populist Right: hold highly restrictive views about immigration policy and are critical of government, big business/corporations, and the economic system as a whole; nearly half support higher taxes on the wealthy and on large corporations.
Ambivalent Right: views on the size of the federal government, business, gender and race are largely consistent with core conservative values; differ from some other segments of the GOP coalition by being less restrictive on immigration, more internationalist in foreign policy, and taking a moderate stance on several social issues.
Stressed Sideliners: generally disconnected from politics and the two major parties; represent substantial shares of both parties’ coalitions, yet have low voter turnout rate.
Outsider Left: hold liberal views on most issues and overwhelmingly voting Democratic; have deeply negative views of the GOP though not particularly enamored with the Democratic Party.
Democratic Mainstays: generally favor policies that expand the social safety net and support higher taxes on corporations; the largest single group as a share of the Democratic coalition, somewhat more hawkish than other Democratic-oriented groups on foreign policy and less liberal on immigration policy and some social issues.
Establishment Liberals: the typology group most likely to see value in political compromise and to be more inclined toward more measured approaches to societal change than their Progressive Left counterparts; say a lot more needs to be done on issues such as racial equality yet also say this can be achieved by working within the current system.
Progressive Left: have very liberal views across a range of issues – including the size and scope of government, foreign policy, immigration and race. A sizable majority (79%) describe their views as liberal, including 42% who say their views are very liberal – double the share of the next largest group (20% of Outsider Left).
Here’s how these groups differ on whether they considered the federal budget deficit to be a big problem, small problem, or no problem at all:
The Range: Ninety-seven percent of the Faith and Flag Conservatives considered the federal budget deficit to be a very big or moderately big problem, compared with 59% of the Progressive Left. Additionally, 40% of the Progressive Left saw the deficit as a small problem or no problem at all, compared with 3% of the Faith and Flag Conservatives.
Related Opinions:
If I were a Pollster, follow-up questions I’d ask:
How much of a problem do you think the Federal Budget Deficit is?
How does the U.S. federal deficit compares to other developed countries (e.g., bigger/smaller), especially those with generous social welfare policies?
Why do you think the deficit is a [big/small problem or not a problem at all]?
How do you determine when a federal deficit is too large?
Do you think the economic system in this country is generally fair to most Americans?
What is it about the U.S. economic system that makes it fair/unfair?
Why is the U.S. economic system fair to [some or most] Americans?
Why is the U.S. economic system unfair to [some or most] Americans?
Is it the federal government’s responsibility to provide an adequate standard of living for all Americans?
What do you consider an adequate standard of living?
Why do you think it [is or is not] the government’s responsibility to provide an adequate standard of living for all Americans?
If you think the federal government should provide an adequate standard of living for all Americans, how would the government pay for it?
Do most corporations make a fair and reasonable amount of profit?
Let’s define profit as the “ money a business pulls in after accounting for all expenses”. What would you consider a ‘fair and reasonable’ amount of profit, expressed as a percentage of earnings, such as 1%, 10%, 20%, etc.. (Provide example is necessary)
What do you think the average corporation makes in profit per year (as percentage of earnings)? Rough estimates are fine.
Tax rates on household income over $400,000 be … Follow-up only with those who endorsed “raised a lot”.
What should the federal income tax rate be on household income over $400,000? A range is fine.
What is the current federal income tax rate on these households? A range is fine.
Tax rates on large businesses and corporations should be… Follow-up only with those who endorsed “raised a lot”.
How much should large corporations be taxed on their profits? Provide tax rate as a percent of profit, e.g., 20%, 30%, etc. Ranges are fine.
What is the current federal corporate income tax rate, expressed as percent of profit? Guesses are fine.
The purpose of these questions is to explore the respondents’ concerns, knowledge and understanding related to the topic being discussed.