Conservatives Outnumber Liberals More Than Two To One (POLL)

Conservatives maintained and built on their numerical advantage over liberals in the first half of 2010, a new Gallup poll finds.

According to the poll, 42 percent of respondents described themselves as either very conservative or conservative, up from 40 percent in 2009. Meanwhile, only 20 percent called themselves either very liberal or liberal, down from 21 percent last year. 35 percent of respondents described themselves as moderate, down from 36 percent in 2009.

The latest figures mark a continuing rise of conservatism over the past two years. In a similar 2008 poll, only 37 percent of respondents defined themselves as conservative, the bottom of a four year decline that begin in 2004.

Gallup reports that if the conservative identities figures hold steady or grow in the second half of 2010, "it would represent the highest annual percentage identifying as conservative in Gallup's history of measuring ideology with this wording, dating to 1992."

The polls results are based on the combined findings of eight separate Gallup and USA Today/Gallup surveys conducted in the first half of 2010. The margin of error is 2 percent.