Political Typology: What Political Group Do You Belong To?

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Kemea Smith, GoLocalPDX Contributor

I Voted

Photo Credit: Denise Cross Photography,Day 36/366.....I Voted, Feb 5 036/366,

What political type are you?

Pew Research Center says most Americans fall into eight groups. Can you find your match?

Pew Research Center, the nonpartisan fact tank, uses media content analysis, polling, and social science research to present the issues, trends, and attitudes that are talked about around the world.

SLIDES: See Political Typology Slides Below

Pew has devised a quiz based on a political typology study it first launched in 1987 during the Reagan Iran-Contra affair. Pew wanted to see how Americans fit in between the red and blue parties that dominate the country. For the last 27 years the center has come up with a variety of labels like “Enterprise Republicans” and “Partisan Poor” to described clusters of political ideology.

The latest study concluded that four groups make up the core of American voters; Young Outsiders, Hard-Pressed Skeptics, Next Generation Left, and Faith and Family Left.

Out of the four middle groups, Faith and Family Left have the highest percentage of registered voters at 16 percent.

Some 27 percent of registered voters are Republican. But party doesn't mean everything. In the Pew model Republicans are divided into two major groups: Steadfast Conservatives and Business Conservatives.

On the other hand, 17 percent of registered voters are Solid Liberals, according to Pew. The study also concluded that liberals are more optimistic about America’s future, compared with 76 percent of Steadfast Conservatives, who believe the best years are behind us.

Guess which type you are before taking the quiz, and see if you really know yourself when it comes to politics.

Related Slideshow: The Eight Political Types

What political type are you? The Pew Research Center says most Americans fall into eight groups. Can you find your match?

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Steadfast Conservatives

Republicans who regularly attend religious services (55 percent attend at least weekly) and are very politically engaged. Steadfast Conservatives are mostly male (59 percent), non-Hispanic white (87 percent), and hold very negative thoughts towards immigrants/immigration.

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Photo Credit: Denise Cross Photography,Day 36/366.....I Voted, Feb 5 036/366, Live look

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Business Conservatives

If you are an individualist who invests in the stock market and believes the government is doing a bad job, then you might be a Business Conservative. Unlike Steadfast Conservatives, Business Conservatives believe that immigrants strengthen the country. Most Business Conservatives live in suburbs with 45 percent earning $75,000 a year or more.

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Photo Credit: "Photos NewYork1 032". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - Live look (image cropped)

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Solid Liberals

Educated liberals who are optimistic about the nation’s future and who continually support President Obama (with 84 percent approving his job performance) and, you guessed it, faithfully vote Democrat. Unlike Business Conservatives who prefer the suburbs, 45 percent of Solid Liberals prefer to live in a city.

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Photo Credit: "President Barack Obama, 2012 portrait crop" by Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

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Young Outsiders

Are you a person that dislikes both Republicans and Democrats? Young Outsiders may lean towards the Republican Party, but heavily support the environment and liberal social policies, unlike their conservative counterparts. Also they are one of the youngest typology groups, with 30 percent under the age of 30. Young Outsiders are 73 percent non-Hispanic whites who think "poor people today have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return."

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Photo Credit: Tucker Carlson, Tucker Carlson's Twitter Profile

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Hard-Pressed Skeptics

Like Young Outsiders, Hard-Pressed Skeptics doubt Democrats and Republicans, but lean towards the Democratic Party view, although fewer than half approve of Obama’s job performance. Difficult financial circumstances have left Hard-Pressed Skeptics to believe that “the poor have hard lives because government benefits don’t go far enough to help them live decently.”

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Photo Credit: By Dorothea Lange, Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information / Office of Emergency Management / Resettlement Administration [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (image cropped)

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Next Generation Left

You might just be a Next Generation Left if you're liberal on social issues: abortion, same-sex marriage and affirmative action. However, Next Generation Leftists deny the belief that racial discrimination is a barrier to success for racial minorities.

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Photo Credit: Jfruh at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 Live look (image cropped)

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Faith and Family Left

This group is highly diverse with 30 percent African-American and 18 percent foreign born. Faith and Family Left want a greater government role in programs such as aid for the poor. However, they are conservative when it comes to social issues, like opposing same sex marriage and legalizing marijuana, probably because the majority put religion and family first.

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Photo Credit: Vinoth Chandar "play of light in santhome church" Live look (image cropped)

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Bystanders

If you keep saying “I don’t get it, I don’t see myself as any of the types,” you might just be a Bystander, which means you're the person on the sidelines. You're more interested in celebrities like Jay-Z and Beyonce (are they really getting a divorce?) than government and politics. Noteworthy that Bystanders don't registered to vote, but do love the outdoors. Some 66 percent of bystanders consider themselves an “outdoor person.”

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