State patterns in ideology largely stable compared with previous years
As has been the case in recent years, Americans overall
are significantly more likely to identify as conservative than as
liberal. Forty percent of more than 218,000 adults 18 and older
interviewed in Gallup tracking in 2011 said they were conservative, 36%
were moderate, and 21% liberal. Only in the District of Columbia and
Massachusetts did liberals outnumber conservatives.
 |
| Explore complete state data > |
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of Gallup
Daily tracking Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2011, with a random sample of 218,537
adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District
of Columbia.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say
with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±1
percentage point.
Margins of error for individual states are no greater than ±4
percentage points, and are ±3 percentage points in most states. The
margin of error for the District of Columbia is ±5 percentage points.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and
cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents
who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota
of 400 cell phone respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000
national adults, with additional minimum quotas among landline
respondents by region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random
among listed telephone numbers. Cell phone numbers are selected using
random-digit-dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random
within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent
birthday.
Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity,
education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cell phone
only/landline only/both, cell phone mostly, and having an unlisted
landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March
2011 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older
non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households.
All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design
effects for weighting and sample design.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical
difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the
findings of public opinion polls.
For more details on Gallup’s polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading …
Posted in 
Add to Google