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 inequality to be a big problem, small problem, or no problem at all:
The Range: Ninety-eight percent of the Progressive Left considered inequality to be a very big or moderately big problem, compared with 25% of Faith and Flag Conservatives . Additionally, 75% of Faith and Flag Conservatives saw inequality as a small problem or no problem at all, compared with 2% of the Progressive Left.
Related Opinions:
If I were a pollster, I’d take a subset of the survey respondents and ask them follow-up questions. For example,
Original Question: Do you think an adequate standard of living is something the federal government has a responsibility to provide for all Americans? Response options: yes or no.
Could you elaborate on your response? For example, what might you consider an adequate standard of living? Or, why do you think an adequate standard of living is or is not something the federal government should provide for all Americans? Or, do you consider “helping the poor” different than providing an adequate standard of living, and , if so, in what ways?
Original Question: Please choose the statement that comes closer to your own views – even if neither is exactly right. Response options: 1) Government aid to the poor does more harm than good, by making people too dependent on government help; 2) Government aid to the poor does more good than harm, because people can’t get out of poverty until their basic needs are met.
Could you elaborate on your response? For example, what do you see as some of the pros and cons of government aid to the poor?
Original Question: Please choose the statement that comes closer to your own views – even if neither is exactly right. Response options: 1) It’s not the government’s job to protect people from themselves; or, 2) Sometimes laws to protect people from themselves are necessary.
Could you elaborate on your response? For example, what might you see as the pros and cons of laws that protect people from their own actions, such as laws requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets, laws against drug use, or regulations that ban stores from selling large sugary drinks? (Or use your own example)
Notice that the follow-up questions are all open-ended. The purpose of these questions is to explore the respondents’ concerns, knowledge and understanding related to the topic being discussed, which is why they are open-ended. Compared to questions with a limited set of response options, open-ended questions are often more revealing of respondents’ true feelings and provide some insight into their thinking. As Richard Curtain, Director of the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan, puts it: “open-ended questions are superior [to close-ended questions] in that they measure what is of most concern to the respondent without any prompting.” More surveys should include them.