ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at changes since 1972. It focuses on a few important questions that were asked in 1972 and also in 2008 and 2012, the latest years of the American National Election Studies (ANES) surveys. The chapter examines some areas that have not been covered so far but are important for understanding the current meaning of conservatism in the general public. The 40 years covered by the ANES conservatism indicator is a period in which this measure of conservatism and its correlates tell an important story of stability and change. Something has happened to make religious service attendance and abortion views stronger predictors of conservatism in the most surveys than they were in 1972. Opinion on the pace of progress in ensuring equal rights in the US also shows continuity and, in this case, slight evidence of a strengthening relationship with conservatism.
