[Jt]

Y'know, for all of Chris Rock's lunacy he made a pretty decent point in one of his HBO specials, in that it's bizarre a lot of people tend to assign themselves to a political party, THEN have their own policies dictated by that party's manifesto, rather than have their own opinions form a substantial basis for their political orientation.

In England there's a great deal of stigma associated with being a Conservative/Tory because of the Thatcherite legacy (one of the best economies in the world?!), so young people don't associate with the party even if their own beliefs fall more in line with the Tories than Labour. It's just not the "done thing" to be right-of-centre.

I think that's mirrored to an extent in the US of A from what I can gather.