Are "Conservatives" fooling themselves?

In an op-ed piece that encourages Republicans in 2012 to "keep it ideological", Charles Krauthammer links to a late 2010 Gallup poll indicating that many more Americans consider themselves "conservative" or "moderate" than "liberal", in support of his contention that the US is a center-right nation.

The poll reveals what Americans think of themselves, or, more precisely, what labels they apply to themselves.  What it does not reveal is where Americans actually stand - i.e. the policies that they actually support.

As we know, large majorities of Americans -- regardless of label or party affiliation -- support social security, medicare, civil rights, gay rights, etc… which are all liberal programs that have been opposed by conservatives over the years.  Whenever Republicans propose to tamper with these programs, the people tend to make it very clear that they will not go along.  The plummeting popular support for the new conservative governors of Wisconsin (Scott Walker), Ohio (John Kasich) and Florida (Rick Scott) makes this especially clear, as does the Democratic upset in the recent special election in New York's deeply and persistently conservative 26th congressional district.

Krauthammer's attitude is typical of the right wing these days - more concerned with appearances than with reality, with labels and words than with actual policies and their effects.  The word "liberal" has been mercilessly and systematically trashed over the past several decades - a hugely successful negative branding effort by conservatives which has resulted in a general repudiation of the word, even by many actual liberals, who tend these days to call themselves "progressives" instead.  If the poll had substituted the word "progressive" for "liberal", no doubt the numbers would have been at least a bit higher.

In any event, what's in a word?  Consistent pan-partisan majority support for the social programs that constitute the very hallmarks of Liberalism demonstrates that whatever they prefer to call themselves, and however they like to think of themselves, Americans are not collectively "center-right" when it comes actual policies.

I don't fault Krauthammer for spinning a poll result to promote a political position (i.e. to fool his readers), but he and other conservatives should be very careful about fooling themselves.  I suspect that confusion about the real significance of such poll results is what lies behind the phenomenon of conservative overreach, which is currently on display in Wisconsin and Ohio and Florida - a phenomenon that could well ensure a Democratic resurgence in 2012.