Conservative Democrat

In American politics, a conservative Democrat is a member of the Democratic Party with more conservative views than most Democrats. Traditionally, conservative Democrats have been elected to office from the Southern states, rural areas, the Rust Belt, and the Midwest.[1] In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that 14% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters identify as conservative or very conservative, 38% identify as moderate, and 47% identify as liberal or very liberal.[2]

Before 1964, Democratic Party and Republican Party had their liberal, moderate, and conservative wings, each of them influential in both parties. During this period, conservative Democrats formed the Democratic half of the conservative coalition. After 1964, the conservative wing assumed a greater presence in the Republican Party, although it did not become the mainstay of the party until the nomination of Ronald Reagan in 1980. The Democratic Party retained its conservative wing through the 1970s with the help of urban machine politics while blue-collar workers still aligned with the Democrats. This political realignment was mostly complete by 1980.

After 1980, the Republicans became a mostly conservative party, with conservative leaders such as Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, and George Bush. The Democrats, while keeping their liberal base intact, grew their centrist wing, the New Democrats, in the 1990s, with leaders such as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Evan Bayh. In the U.S. House of Representatives, the New Democrat Coalition represents the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, and the Blue Dog Coalition represents centrist and conservative Democrats.[3][4]

In the 21st century, conservative Democrats are similar to their liberal Republican counterparts, in that both became political minorities after their respective political parties underwent a major political realignment, which began to gain speed in 1964.[5]

  1. ^ "Political ideology among adults in the Midwest – Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on January 3, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Edward G. Carmines, and Michael Berkman, "Ethos, ideology, and partisanship: Exploring the paradox of conservative Democrats." Political Behavior 16 (1994): 203-218. online
  4. ^ Adam J. Schiffer, "I'm not that liberal: Explaining conservative democratic identification." Political Behavior 22 (2000): 293-310.
  5. ^ "The Long Goodbye". The Economist. November 11, 2010.

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