Conservatives and liberals in the US: a newcomer's map of American politics

Most Europeans arrive in the United States with a picture of American politics taken from television: two camps, permanently shouting. Living here, you meet something more interesting. Your neighbours vote, argue at school board meetings, put up yard signs and then lend you their trailer.

The vocabulary: why "liberal" confuses Europeans

In much of Europe, a liberal party stands for free markets, low taxes and civil liberties. In the United States the word has moved to the centre left. An American liberal usually favours a larger role for government in health care, social programmes and regulation, and progressive positions on social questions. The word progressive is often used for the more left-leaning end of that camp.

An American conservative generally wants a smaller federal government, lower taxes, fewer regulations, a strong military, and traditional positions on family and social questions. Within that label sit very different people: business conservatives focused on taxes and regulation, religious conservatives focused on family and faith, and a populist wing focused on immigration, trade and national sovereignty. Many Americans also call themselves libertarian: economically conservative, socially permissive, sceptical of government in general.

Roughly, conservatives find their home in the Republican Party and liberals in the Democratic Party. Both parties are broad coalitions, wider than most European parties, because the American electoral system rewards two large tents and leaves little room for small parties. A Texas Democrat and a Massachusetts Democrat can disagree on a lot; the same goes for Republicans in Vermont and Oklahoma.

How Americans describe themselves in numbers

The two most cited measures come from Gallup and the Pew Research Center. They ask differently, so their figures differ, and we show both.

Three things stand out. First, more Americans call themselves conservative than liberal, but Gallup's 2025 gap of seven points is the smallest in its annual averages going back to 1992. Second, a plurality identifies with neither party; most of those independents still lean one way when asked. Third, the country is close to evenly split. Elections are decided at the margins, which is why campaigns are so intense.

Within the parties, Gallup found that 77% of Republicans call themselves conservative, while 59% of Democrats call themselves liberal and 32% moderate. Independents are mostly moderate.

City, suburb, countryside

The strongest predictor of how a place votes is often its density. Pew's analysis of registered voters (data through 2023) found:

• In urban counties, 60% of voters identify with or lean to the Democrats and 37% to the Republicans.
• In suburban counties the split is nearly even: about half Republican, 47% Democratic.
• In rural counties, Republicans hold a 25 point advantage.

For a newcomer this matters more than any national poll. Moving from Brooklyn to a small town an hour outside Austin can feel like moving to another country. The same is true in reverse. Both are America. Our guides to what a county is and to elected sheriffs, judges and school boards explain why local politics shapes daily life here far more than in most of Europe.

Age, education, gender and faith

Pew's 2026 reference survey shows how differently groups lean (Republican or leaning Republican versus Democratic or leaning Democratic):

Religion is one of the clearest dividing lines. Among registered voters in 2023, Pew found that 85% of white evangelical Protestants identify with or lean to the Republicans, while 70% of the religiously unaffiliated lean to the Democrats. Catholics were split, 52% Republican and 44% Democratic. 84% of Black Protestants and 69% of Jewish voters align with the Democrats. Our guide to faith and religion in America explains the religious landscape behind these numbers.

These are averages. You will meet young evangelical Democrats, rural progressives and professors who vote Republican. Treat the table as a map of tendencies, never as a way to predict the person in front of you.

Where the parties usually stand

Party platforms change, and individual politicians often break with them. As a broad orientation for newcomers:

Two points surprise Europeans. Both parties are, by European standards, pro-business and pro-market; the debate is about degree. And many of the real fights happen in state capitals, because the federal system leaves states wide room on taxes, schools, guns and much else. That is why Texas and California can feel so different, as our Texas state guide shows.

How elections actually work

Federal elections take place on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in every even-numbered year, a date set in federal law. In 2026 that is 3 November, a midterm election. All 435 seats of the House of Representatives are elected every two years; senators serve six-year terms, so about a third of the Senate is up each cycle. The President is elected every four years, next in 2028.

The House is closely divided. Before the 2026 election, on 29 October 2026, the Clerk of the House listed 218 Republicans, 214 Democrats, one independent and two vacancies, which shows how few seats separate a majority from a minority.

Before the general election come the primaries, in which each party picks its candidates. Rules vary by state. Texas, for example, does not register voters by party: a voter chooses a party's ballot at the primary itself and may vote in only one party's primary. The Texas Secretary of State counted 18,657,918 registered voters for the March 2026 primary.

On top of federal races, Americans vote for an astonishing number of offices: governors, state legislators, judges in many states, sheriffs, county commissioners, school boards, plus local ballot measures on bonds and taxes. A single ballot can run to several pages.

What you may and may not do as a non-citizen

This is the part with legal teeth, and we go through it with every client who moves here.

• Voting. Federal law makes it a crime for a non-citizen to vote in an election for President, Senate or House, punishable by a fine and up to one year in prison (18 U.S.C. 611). A green card does not change this. Do not register to vote, even if a form at the driver's licence office invites you to. Falsely claiming US citizenship is also a ground of inadmissibility under immigration law (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(C)(ii)), which can end a green card application.
• Donations. Federal law prohibits contributions, donations and expenditures by foreign nationals in connection with any federal, state or local election (52 U.S.C. 30121). A foreign national here means someone who is neither a citizen nor a lawful permanent resident. Green card holders may contribute; visa holders, such as E-2 or L-1 entrepreneurs, may not.
• Your company. If you are a foreign national, you may not direct or take part in decisions about your US company's election-related spending. A US subsidiary of a European parent may run a political action committee only under strict conditions, including that US citizens or permanent residents make its decisions and the foreign parent does not fund election activity. LLCs and partnerships may not attribute contributions to foreign members.

You are free to hold and voice opinions, attend town halls and write to your representatives. Our comparison of free speech in the US and Europe explains how differently speech is treated here. The right to vote comes with naturalization; the right to donate already comes with a green card.

Living alongside it: our advice from Austin

1. Listen first. Americans are usually open about their convictions and curious about yours, but a newcomer who lectures about gun laws or health care in the first month rarely makes friends. Ask why people think what they think; you will hear thoughtful answers.
2. Separate the office from the dinner table. In business, politics is mostly left out of meetings. Your customers, suppliers and employees will span the whole spectrum.
3. Watch local, not cable. The decisions that touch your life, property taxes, school calendars, zoning for your office, are made by people you can meet at a county meeting.
4. Expect civility in person. The tone online and on television is harsh. Face to face, at the hardware store or the church picnic, it is far gentler, and neighbourliness usually wins over party.

Sebastian has written personally about his own political journey in why he no longer calls himself a conservative, an essay many readers have found useful as a first-hand view. For the wider differences in daily life, see our guide to living in the US as a European.