(NewsNation) — Since the 1990s, certain age groups of women have experienced significantly greater increases in liberal beliefs, while men’s perspectives have remained more stable, according to new data collected by Gallup.
Gallup’s national figures on Americans’ political ideology revealed that the country remains at the center-right. Additionally, it showed that 25% of Americans consider themselves as liberal as opposed to 36% who identify as moderate and 36% who identify as conservative.
However, of those who are left-leaning, there are more women compared to men, who remain locked in either to the right or center.
In 1999, 14% of women aged 65 and older identified as liberal, but it rose to 21% by 2013 and 25% by 2023, an 11-point increase overall. In 1999, senior women were the least liberal female age group; however, today, they’re as likely as middle-aged women to identify as liberal.
In contrast, between 1999 and 2023, liberal identification grew six points among women aged 30 to 49, from 22% to 28%. The overall increase was a similar seven points among those aged 50 to 64, from 18% in 1999 to 25% in 2023.
The trend in men’s liberal views remains relatively stable compared to women’s, but liberal identity has increased among two groups of men.
Since 1999, there has been a five-point increase in the percentage of men aged 30 to 49 identifying as liberal — from 17% in 1999 to 22%. Additionally, there’s been a six-point increase among men aged 65 and older — from 12% in 1999 to 18% in 2023.
At the same time, there has been essentially no long-term change among men aged 18 to 29 — which increased by one point since 1999 — or 50 to 64 — up two points from 1999.
Fewer men in each age group today identify as liberal than do their female counterparts, but at 15 points, the gap is widest among those aged 18 to 29, with 40% of women identifying as liberal versus 25% of men.
The findings were based on an annual average of Gallup’s telephone surveys, which generally include 12,000 or more interviews with U.S. adults yearly and at least 500 adults in each gender-by-age subgroup.
