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POLITICS

28% of Voters Are Both Fiscal and Social Conservatives

A plurality of U.S. voters classifies themselves as fiscal conservatives.  But when it comes to social issues, voters are more evenly divided on which viewpoint they hold. 

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 46% of Likely Voters consider themselves politically conservative when it comes to fiscal issues such as taxes, government spending and business regulation.  Thirty-seven percent (37%) say the same on social issues like abortion, public prayer and Church-state topics, down five points from early February. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Only 14% say they’re liberal on fiscal issues, up seven points from just over a month ago.  Twenty-eight percent (28%) consider themselves socially liberal, showing little change from the previous survey.

Thirty-eight percent (38%) feel they’re moderate when it comes to economic policy, while 30% feel that way on social issues. 

Overall, 28% of voters consider themselves conservative on both fiscal and social issues.  That’s down slightly from early February and roughly identical to the level measured in the fall of 2007.

Only 15% say they’re moderate on both of these issues, while 12% are liberal on both.  The number of voters who are liberal in these areas has doubled from the previous survey.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on January 31-February 1, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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