How many people in America identify as liberals?
Modern liberalism in the United States
Liberal historian Eric Alterman notes that barely 20% of Americans are willing to accept "liberal" as a political label, but that supermajorities of Americans actually favor "liberal" positions time and again. Alterman points out that resistance to the label "liberal" is not surprising due to billions of dollars worth of investment poured into the denigration of the term. A 2004 poll conducted by the National Election Study found only 35% of respondents questioned identifying as liberal compared to 55% identifying as conservative; a 2004 Pew poll found 19% of respondents identifying as liberal, and 39% identifying as conservative, with the balance identifying as moderate. A 2006 poll found that 19% identified as liberal, and 36% conservative. In 2005, self-identifying moderates polled by Louis Harris & Associates were found to share essentially the same political beliefs as self-identifying liberals, but rejected the world "liberal" because of the vilification heaped on the word itself by conservatives. Alterman acknowledges political scientist Drew Westen's observation that for most Americans, the word "liberal" now carries meanings such as "elite", "tax and spend", and "out of touch".
American nationalism
Bonikowski and Dimaggio's analysis of these four groups found that "ardent nationalists" made up about 24% of their study, and was the larger of the two groups they describe as "extreme". Members of this group identified closely with the United States, were very proud of their country, and associated themselves strongly with factors of national hubris. However, although they felt that it was important that a "true American" speak English, and had lived most of their life in the U.S., they rejected the necessity of being Christian or being born in the country. Nevertheless, ardent nationalists perceived Jews, Muslims, agnostics and naturalized citizens as something less than truly American. The second class that Bonikowski and DiMaggio referred to as "extreme" was the smallest of the four classes, making up 17% of their respondents. "The disengaged" showed low levels of pride in the institutions of government and did not fully identify themselves with the United States. Their lack of pride extended to American democracy, American history, the political equality in the U.S., and the country's political influence in the world. This group was the least nationalistic of all four groups identified.