What Is a Conservative? Beliefs, Types and How to Tell If You Are One

A conservative in plain terms

Britannica defines conservatism as a political doctrine that emphasizes the value of traditional institutions and practices. It describes a preference for the historically inherited over the abstract and ideal.

That gives a simple test. A conservative looks at an institution that has lasted, whether a constitution, a church, a family structure or a market custom, and assumes it probably survived for good reasons. The burden of proof falls on those who want to change it.

Conservatives themselves often stress that this is a temperament as much as a program. The writer Russell Kirk, one of the founders of postwar American conservatism, insisted that conservatism has "no Holy Writ and no Das Kapital to provide dogmata." He offered principles that he thought most conservatives would accept, not a fixed creed.

For a side-by-side comparison with the other main camp in American politics, see our liberal vs conservative guide. This page focuses on conservatives: who they are, what kinds there are, and how the label has changed.

What conservatives believe

In their own best terms, conservatives make a few recurring arguments.

Tradition holds practical wisdom. Customs and institutions reflect the trial and error of many generations. No single generation, however clever, can design a better society from scratch.

Human nature is imperfect. Britannica notes that conservatives tend to see people as driven by passions and desires, which is why they value institutions that restrain them. Plans that assume people can be perfected tend to go wrong.

Change should be gradual. Reform is sometimes necessary, but it works best when it builds on what already exists. Kirk listed the reconciling of permanence and change among his principles.

Society grows from the bottom up. Families, congregations, neighborhoods and voluntary groups do more for people than distant governments, and a large state can weaken them.

Liberty needs order. Free markets, private property and the rule of law protect freedom, but they depend on a shared moral culture and a state strong enough to keep the peace and defend the nation.

Types of conservatives

Social and traditional conservatives

Social conservatism focuses on family, religion and moral questions such as abortion and marriage. Traditionalism goes further, defending inherited customs and hierarchies as goods in themselves. See conservatism vs social conservatism and conservatism vs traditionalism.

Fiscal conservatives

Fiscal conservatism is about economics: low taxes, restrained spending, balanced budgets and light regulation. Some fiscal conservatives are socially liberal. Compare them in conservatism vs fiscal conservatism.

Neoconservatives

Neoconservatism emerged in the 1960s and 1970s among intellectuals, many of them former liberals, who grew critical of the Great Society and the counterculture. Neoconservatives are best known for an assertive foreign policy that promotes democracy abroad. See conservatism vs neoconservatism.

Paleoconservatives

Paleoconservatism emphasizes tradition, regional identity, limited immigration, trade protection and a restrained foreign policy. Its supporters see themselves as keepers of an older conservatism. Their long feud with neoconservatives is covered in neoconservatism vs paleoconservatism.

Libertarian leaning conservatives

Many American conservatives blend free-market economics with traditional values. In the 1960s, the National Review writer Frank Meyer championed this blend, which became known as fusionism and formed the core of the modern conservative coalition. People who lean further toward personal freedom are covered in our what is a libertarian guide.

National conservatives

National conservatism puts the nation, its borders, its industries and its culture at the center. It is more open to government action on trade and the economy than older free-market conservatism. See conservatism vs national conservatism.

US vs European meaning

Conservatism is always relative to what a country inherited. What counts as traditional depends on the place and the era, so conservatives in different countries can hold very different views.

In the United States, the inherited tradition is a written constitution built on natural rights and limited government. That is why American conservatism includes a strong classical liberal streak, a mix our page on liberal conservatism describes.

In Britain and much of Europe, conservatives historically defended monarchy, an established church and a landed social order. Many European conservatives accepted the welfare state after World War II. Benjamin Disraeli is often credited with the "one nation" idea that conservatives should care for the whole society, rich and poor alike. On the continent, much of the center right took the form of Christian democracy, which combines social conservatism with support for social programs. See Christian democracy vs conservatism.

A short history of conservatism

• Burke and the French Revolution. Modern conservatism is usually traced to Edmund Burke, whose Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) warned that tearing down inherited institutions in the name of abstract reason would end in disorder. Thinkers such as Joseph de Maistre offered a harder, more reactionary version.
• Party conservatism. In Britain, Robert Peel helped turn the old Tories into the Conservative Party in the 1830s, accepting moderate reform to preserve stability.
• The postwar revival in America. Kirk's The Conservative Mind (1953) gave American conservatives an intellectual lineage. In 1955, William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review, whose first issue declared that the magazine "stands athwart history, yelling Stop."
• Goldwater and Reagan. Barry Goldwater won the Republican nomination in 1964 and lost badly, but his campaign built a movement. In 1980, Ronald Reagan united free-market, social and anticommunist conservatives and won the presidency. In Britain, Margaret Thatcher led a parallel free-market turn.
• Ideas after the Cold War. Philosophers such as Roger Scruton continued to defend conservatism as a love of home and inherited culture, while debates over trade, immigration and foreign policy opened new divisions on the right.

Who identifies as conservative today

Gallup has tracked self-described ideology since 1992. In its 2024 annual averages:

• 37% of Americans called themselves conservative or very conservative, compared with 34% moderate and 25% liberal.
• The share is stable. Conservatism stayed near its three-decade average of 38%.
• Among Republicans, 77% identified as conservative, a record high, and 24% said very conservative, also a record. Only 18% of Republicans called themselves moderate.
• Among independents, 30% said conservative.

The Pew Research Center's 2026 political typology shows how varied the right is. It splits the Republican coalition into several groups, including Faith First Conservatives, who stand out on questions of religion, morality and social traditionalism, and a younger, less engaged group with more moderate views on abortion and social programs. Pew finds that groups on the right are divided as much by tone and political style as by policy.

Criticisms of conservatism

From liberals and the left

Critics on the left argue that conservatism too often defends existing hierarchies and the people who benefit from them. They point out that appeals to tradition were used to resist the end of slavery, votes for women and civil rights. Many also argue that free-market conservatism widens inequality and weakens the safety net that ordinary families rely on.

From libertarians

In his 1960 essay "Why I Am Not a Conservative," Friedrich Hayek argued that conservatism opposes drastic change but lacks a positive direction of its own, so it can slow a trend but not offer an alternative to it. Libertarians also criticize conservatives for supporting laws on personal morality and drugs, and for accepting big government when it serves their own goals.

From within the right

Conservatives argue among themselves too. Traditionalists and national conservatives say free-market conservatives sacrificed communities and industries to global markets. Free-market conservatives reply that protectionism and big government betray conservative principles. Paleoconservatives criticize neoconservative foreign policy as reckless, and neoconservatives call their critics isolationist.

From political scientists

Some scholars note that "conservative" can describe very different things: a temperament, a policy program, a party identity and a cultural identity. People who share the label may agree on little beyond opposition to the left.

How to tell if you are a conservative

You may be a conservative if most of these sound right to you:

• Long-standing institutions deserve the benefit of the doubt.
• Families, churches and communities matter more than government programs.
• Lower taxes and free enterprise are the best path to prosperity.
• Change should come slowly and build on what already works.
• Shared moral values hold a free society together.

If you agree on economics but want government out of personal choices, you may be closer to a libertarian. If you hold traditional social views but favor a strong safety net, you may be cross-pressured, which our what is a centrist guide explains. For the other side in its own words, read what is a liberal.

Find where you fit

The quickest check is the Liberal or Conservative Quiz, which takes about two minutes. For a fuller picture, the Political Values Test scores you separately on economics, civil liberties, society and diplomacy, so you can see whether you are conservative across the board or only on some issues. The 12 Axes Political Test goes further and can separate a traditionalist from a fiscal or national conservative.