Interpretations of the Pew Political Types

Including their fit within the U.S. political compass

A Pew Research Center survey of the U.S. general public, in 2021, showed clusters of political beliefs and values. The origin of these Pew labels and their political beliefs and tendencies are detailed in an earlier post. Before reading further, you may want to take the survey to find out your Pew political type. In these quadrants below, the descriptions are loosely based on findings of the Pew Research Center. The names of the eight types below are from the Pew study. The descriptions below are not from the Pew researchers, but are interpretations of Pew findings. Pew researchers did not place the types into quadrants.

Pew researchers lined up their respondents along the typical left-to-right spectrum.

Figure 1. Percentages of U.S. general public falling into nine clusters based on political survey responses. Source. Pew Research Center, 2021.

Yet Pew researchers admitted these respondents fell into nine clusters that were as divided within the Democrat and Republican parties as they were between them. Others commented on the inadequacy of the left-to-right spectrum.

Despite surveys having found broad support for a third party outside the two major ones, the study shows that there's no magic middle. In fact, the study finds that the three groups with the most self-identified independents "have very little in common politically." (Montanaro, 2021, para. 5)

Stressed sideliners. The Pew researchers put this group—absent from the quadrants above—in the center of the spectrum. In age and religious observance they match the U.S. average. Pew notes they have less partisan animosity than other types and are less engaged in politics. They are the least likely to vote. Stressed sideliners are financially challenged. Stressed sideliners have lower levels of social trust, and 7 in 10 favor the death penalty. They have three similarities with the populist right: (a) less formal educational experience, (b) lower household incomes than other groups, and (c) very likely to say the economic system unfairly favors powerful interests. Yet they are unlike the populist right in that they are more socially liberal. They look more like the ambivalent right or Democratic mainstays in their social opinions. Sideliners differ from the ambivalent right (and match the Democratic mainstays) as they are less educated, more racially diverse, and favor regulation of business (probably pro-union) rather than being pro-business. They also seem to have some overlap with the moderate Democrats group, as they are more ethnically diverse (over 20%) than most other groupings (Pew Research Center, 2021). They could almost be considered apolitical versions of the Democratic mainstays. Yet their views are evenly split between Republican and Democrat leaning, so they aren’t mappable into one of these four quadrants. PoliticalCompassMemes has a representation of apolitical types as a centrist guy who just wants to barbeque. That could fit many in this group.

The Right Coalition

Shikha Dalmia did a 54-question poll thru YouGov of U.S. citizens in August 2024 and divides the right coalition in the following quote:

The Regan fusion of conservatism consisted of neoconservatives who were foreign policy hawks, and paleoconservatives who believed in traditional conservative values, and you had libertarians who were limited government free market individual liberty types….the neoconservatives and the paleoconservatives have actually spawned never Trump movements. (35:02)

The easiest of these to map to the Pew types is that “paleoconservatives who believed in traditional conservative values” are the faith and flag conservatives. Their core values are not in line with Trump’s lack of morally upright behavior, but he appeased them by appointing supreme court justices that handed the abortion decision to the states. Neoconservatives map to Pew’s committed conservatives. Pew’s ambivalent right, who Pew describe as not strong Trump supporters, map to a group Dalmia continues by describing as Libertarians who “didn’t start wearing MAGA hats, but they did abdicate….They did not take the threat of Trump seriously” (36:03). “Populism is a highly contested term, but…there is something happening in the world globally where you’ve got the rise of these strong man figures” (44:16). These she agrees with Pew researchers are not as resistant to authoritarian leadership, which Pew refers to as the populist right. She notes, “56% of Trump supporters who could be classified as hard core populists” by these criteria, compared to 29% of RFK Jr., 15% of Harris supporters who meet these criteria (48:22).

In a populist moment, the people feel a direct and personal connection to their leader or their candidate or his or her policy agenda. They are okay with the leader doing an end run around parliamentary procedures to promote this agenda...grievance and hostility toward elites, governing elites and social elites, and their are outgroups who are considered to be fundamentally not part of the national community but whom the elites are in some ways coddling, or privileging, or not checking sufficiently. (Dalmia, 2024, 46:51)

Left Populism

Pardon the imbalance in this topic. I’ll add to it if I come across another poll or convincing dissection of the left coalition that validates the Pew categories. To begin that analysis is another of Dalmia’s (2024) findings: “The other interesting element of the survey was that Kamala Harris’ supporters are actually—just as much as Trump supporters and even slightly more—willing to let her subvert constitutional parliamentary norms and use executive power to get her way” (49:48).

Thanks for reading. Here’s a related post on egregores.

Repeat of Quadrants Content

This section repeats the writing in the quadrants, for any who have difficulty reading in that format. Groups are presented in order of political party size. What’s the benefit of the quadrant format anyway? It’s a heuristic that can stick in the visual memory.

Blue Quadrant (top left)

Pew type: Democratic mainstays

The Pew research indicates that this group may not always vote Democrat; these seem to be mostly moderate Democrats. This large group consists of reliable voters positioned closest to center. This reflects working middle class values.

Pew type: Establishment liberals

These are progressives that value TEDtalks or the “Davos crowd.” This includes the Democrat elites who attend or engage with the World Economic Forum and stats-based “effective altruism.”

Red Quadrant (top right)

Pew type: Committed conservatives

Pew mentions high educational attainment in this group. These I call corporate globalist hawks who effectively support the military industrial complex and globalist business agendas to promote free trade. The committed designation differentiates them from ambivalent right who share economic values, tho younger and socially more liberal.

Pew type: Faith and flag conservatives

The Pew designation identifies this group as the heart of the moral majority & MAGA movements.

Yellow Quadrant (bottom right)

Pew type: Populist right

Fitting labels could include alt-right or “patriots disenfranchised.”  These will attend the marches, but only the most fervent among them will organize politically. They’ll enthusiastically vote for Trump, promote Alex Jones, and trash talk libs. They are unlikely to campaign door-to-door.

Pew type: Ambivalent right

They don’t see themselves as ambivalent. Like the outsider left, they may not be in marches, but many are deliberate in alternative lifestyle choices that may come at a high cost of breaking from the mainstream. Among these are intellectuals who self-describe as the politicized “dissident right.” Those with the most purely Libertarian or anarchist views are likely found here. They would resonate more with Ron Paul than Trump.

Green Quadrant (bottom left)

Pew type: Progressive left

These vote for, donate to, and promote thru social media Bernie, Warren, equity. Some campaign door-to-door. Among this group would be the fewer activists organizing marches, protests, and cancellations. Others are more pacifist, likely to volunteer in a non-profit or choose a path of influence without overt conflict.

Pew type: Outsider left

Pew found climate change is an important issue to this group. It suggests these are Green voters. Their activist tendencies are not as noticed because most believe in example and persuasion more than forcing political change. It would be accurate to label some as Regenerative turners, willing to break starkly from the mainstream to live in a less comfortable more sustainable way.

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References

Dalmia, S. (2024, November 2). Shikha Dalmia on leaving libertarianism. The Good Fight. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shikha-dalmia-on-leaving-libertarianism/

Montanaro, D. (2021). Feel like you don't fit in either political party? Here's why. https://www.npr.org/2021/11/09/1053929419/feel-like-you-dont-fit-in-either-political-party-heres-why#ambivalent

Pew Research Center. (2021). Beyond red vs. blue: The political typology. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/11/PP_2021.11.09_political-typology_REPORT.pdf