According to Gallup Poll results released today, conservatives still outnumber moderates and liberals in the U.S. today, which confirms findings first noted in June.  Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal.  See Gallup.     

This is a shift from the last four years, when moderates tied with conservatives as the largest ideological group.  One reason for this slight shift is the fact that independents are inching toward the right.

Changes among political independents appear to be the main reason the percentage of conservatives has increased nationally over the past year: the 35% of independents describing their views as conservative in 2009 is up from 29% in 2008. By contrast, among Republicans and Democrats, the percentage who are "conservative" has increased by one point each.

As is typical in recent years, Republicans are far more unified in their political outlook than are either independents or Democrats. While 72% of Republicans in 2009 call their views conservative, independents are closely split between the moderate and conservative labels (43% and 35%, respectively). Democrats are about evenly divided between moderates (39%) and liberals (37%).