Polls over the last two decades show a rise in the number of Americans who call themselves conservatives and a drop in the number who call themselves liberals. The text discusses journalist E. J. Dionne s contention that both conservatism and liberalism distort the belief system of ordinary Americans. Americans do think consistently about politics, he writes, but with terms drawn from their concrete identities rather than from abstract ideologies favored by experts. While Dionne resists labeling this belief system, it does reflect a deeply engrained populism in American political culture. Populism is hostile to all concentrations of power, wants a simple and accountable government, and is skeptical of both conservative and liberal elites.
Ideological dispositions develop from several political socialization sources.
One is the family, but its earlier importance has dwindled. Another is schooling, as it inculcates a sense of identity and instills the importance of the core beliefs that comprise American political culture. When it comes to public opinion, Americans are not as divided by social class as are citizens in many other nations. Another source of division in public opinion is race. White attitudes toward segregation and discrimination have come to be nearly the same as those of African Americans.