Question below about the details of what conservative Democrats or liberal Republicans might believe, etc. I decided to look for a few questions. I removed Independents because their sample sizes are a bit smaller. I clustered all those with socioeconomic status 17-47 as "Low" and those from 47-98 as "High." Again, I limited the sample to whites & the years 1998-2008.
| Dem | Repub | ||||
| High | Low | High | Low | ||
| Yes – Abortion on Demand | Liberal | 74.8 | 57.5 | 52.9 | 41.6 |
| Moderate | 55.7 | 37.9 | 45.9 | 34.6 | |
| Conserv | 41.3 | 27.3 | 26.2 | 20.7 | |
| Yes – Homosexual Sex Always Wrong | Liberal | 12.2 | 21.8 | 40.7 | 58.3 |
| Moderate | 41.2 | 60.3 | 48.4 | 61.4 | |
| Conserv | 51.3 | 73.2 | 69.4 | 79.5 | |
| Know God Exists | Liberal | 30.7 | 39.8 | 43.2 | 61.1 |
| Moderate | 55.2 | 67.4 | 63.4 | 58.7 | |
| Conserv | 63.1 | 70.1 | 70.5 | 74.9 | |
| Make Porn Illegal | Liberal | 18.7 | 26.3 | 33.3 | 29.7 |
| Moderate | 32.7 | 39.3 | 39.8 | 42.6 | |
| Conserv | 41.5 | 51.5 | 43.2 | 53.6 | |
| Approve of Not Requiring Prayer in Pubic Schools | Liberal | 76.5 | 54.1 | 46.4 | 30.1 |
| Moderate | 48.2 | 35.3 | 39.3 | 35.4 | |
| Conserv | 38.5 | 28.2 | 42.3 | 29.2 | |
| Taxes on rich too low | Liberal | 68.2 | 60.9 | 67.9 | 54.4 |
| Moderate | 64.5 | 65.1 | 53.6 | 55.6 | |
| Conserv | 67.2 | 68 | 34 | 35.4 | |
| Allow anti-Religionist to Speak | Liberal | 94.2 | 80.5 | 85.9 | 80.3 |
| Moderate | 83.6 | 67.2 | 81.4 | 76.2 | |
| Conserv | 83.3 | 60.8 | 86.1 | 74 | |
| Allow Racist to Speak | Liberal | 78.3 | 68.3 | 66.9 | 62.2 |
| Moderate | 63.4 | 51.8 | 67.8 | 56 | |
| Conserv | 67.1 | 48 | 72.2 | 59.1 | |
| Allow Communist to Speak | Liberal | 92.6 | 73.6 | 81.1 | 64.4 |
| Moderate | 74.1 | 57.2 | 75.6 | 57.8 | |
| Conserv | 70.6 | 48.7 | 81.3 | 66.2 | |
| Allow Muslim Clergyman to Preach Hatred of USA | Liberal | 74.6 | 51.2 | 73.7 | 27.8 |
| Moderate | 38.9 | 30 | 49.3 | 29.9 | |
| Conserv | 42.6 | 23.4 | 50.5 | 33.9 | |
| Favor Death Penalty for Murder | Liberal | 47.2 | 65.8 | 78 | 82 |
| Moderate | 75.7 | 77.6 | 78.3 | 80.1 | |
| Conserv | 80.6 | 76.9 | 83.8 | 84.2 | |
| Favor Gun Permits | Liberal | 92.9 | 86 | 82.2 | 85.1 |
| Moderate | 82.5 | 82.9 | 78.3 | 73.3 | |
| Conserv | 85.1 | 84 | 69 | 69.9 | |
| Courts Not Harsh Enough With Criminals | Liberal | 54.3 | 70.3 | 78.9 | 79.4 |
| Moderate | 73.3 | 77.3 | 76.1 | 79.6 | |
| Conserv | 82.5 | 79.4 | 79.8 | 81.3 | |
| Favor Law Against Interracial Marriage | Liberal | 3 | 14.1 | 4.7 | 10.7 |
| Moderate | 7.9 | 14.9 | 11.3 | 14.6 | |
| Conserv | 7.2 | 30.8 | 5.6 | 17.6 | |
| Women Should Take Care of Home | Liberal | 3.3 | 13.7 | 4.2 | 20.8 |
| Moderate | 9.5 | 12.1 | 13.7 | 18.7 | |
| Conserv | 9 | 14 | 15.6 | 19.4 | |
| Gov. Should Improve Standard of Living | Liberal | 41.8 | 43.8 | 16.2 | 32.7 |
| Moderate | 23.3 | 30.7 | 16.9 | 21.3 | |
| Conserv | 26.5 | 32 | 7.7 | 13.2 | |
| Gov. Should Help Pay for Medical Care | Liberal | 76.1 | 72.9 | 45.6 | 58.2 |
| Moderate | 53 | 56.4 | 39.4 | 47.2 | |
| Conserv | 53.1 | 59 | 25.8 | 29.4 | |
| Gov. Should Aid Blacks | Liberal | 35 | 22.1 | 7.1 | 20 |
| Moderate | 12.6 | 10.8 | 6.8 | 11 | |
| Conserv | 11.6 | 13.6 | 3.3 | 7.3 | |
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There's a big gap between conservative Dems and conservative Republicans on the only economic issue listed, taxes on the rich.
On porn there's almost no difference. A lot of overlap on prayer and homosexuality. No overlap on God's existence, but not far apart. No overlap on abortion, though a bit farther apart.
It fits the conservative Dem stereotype -- socially (somewhat) conservative and economically pretty much liberal. (Even some of the Southern Dems turned Republican -- e.g. Lott -- are big-government porkbarrelers.)
There remain a lot of (state and local) Southern Democrats who usually vote Republican in federal elections. D and R are very crude classifications.
Out of curiosity, what is the wording on "approve, not require prayer"?
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that no state or
local government may require the reading of the Lord's Prayer or Bible verses in public schools. What are your views on this - do you approve or disapprove of the court ruling?
Some things that stood out to me.
The high and low income diverge significantly on freedom of speech issues, regardless of party affiliation.
And the 30% figure for low income conservative democrats is remarkably high. I'm curious about the demographics of this category, specifically their geographic distribution, religion and ethnicity.
Many of the seemingly paradoxical relationships that appear when we categorize people according to whether they're "liberal" or "conservative" is because we have such an odd way of defining those criteria, and that I think is due to our intent to fit a "right versus left" spectrum,which is basically a one dimensional line, over the 2 dimensional landscape which is in fact how people experience things in our 3 dimensional world.
If one googles "poliical compass" and takes their brief "quiz" one will get a feel of just how inadequate the "liberal versus conservative" template is.