Economist.com | Social attitudes
Not quite right
From The Economist print edition

Americans seem to believe that they and their politics have got more conservative; but perhaps they haven’t.

HAS American politics moved to the right? [There is] a new survey of 2,116 Americans by YouGov, a British-based internet pollster. They seem to reveal a somewhat schizophrenic tension in the body politic. Many Americans think that they and their politicians have become more conservative; yet, when it comes to some fundamental questions, they have actually shifted to the left.

In terms of self-analysis, the direction is fairly clear. A plurality of Americans (41%) think they have not changed much; but, out of those who have changed, 30% have moved to the right, and only 19% to the left. The main swing rightwards has been among males, the old and, perhaps inevitably, Republicans. …

By a huge 42-19% margin, Americans think they are more liberal than their parents. …

For some conservatives, these numbers may cause a fear which coincidentally provides their movement with much of its impetus: that, though they are winning elections, they are losing at least some of the culture wars.

[link above has charts of survey results]