About this research

This Pew Research Center study goes beyond Americans’ partisan attachments and vote choices to explore the values and attitudes that underlie the political landscape and the Republican and Democratic parties. We did this by creating a political typology, which classifies the public into nine groups based on their responses to 30 questions about government, economics, immigration, elected officials and other topics. To learn more about this project, jump to “About the political typology.”

Why did we do this?

Pew Research Center conducts research to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important topics. We have studied Americans’ political values and attitudes, and their views on politics more broadly, for decades. This is the ninth version of the political typology; the first was conducted nearly 40 years ago.

Learn more about Pew Research Center.

How did we do this?

We surveyed 10,357 U.S. adults from Nov. 17 to 30, 2025. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel. The survey represents the views of the full U.S. adult population. We then used a statistical technique called cluster analysis to divide people into nine groups. (For more on the process of dividing people into groups and surveys used for analysis, jump to Appendix B.)

Here are the survey questions used for this analysis, the detailed responses and the survey methodology.

The 2026 Pew Research Center political typology reveals a rich portrait of how Americans view the nation’s place in the world, the strength and use of its power, its relationships with other nations and many current foreign policy hotspots.

While some foreign policy dynamics in the typology track traditional ideological and partisan divides, that is not always the case. In some cases, foreign policy attitudes reveal splits within the partisan coalitions.

This analysis is part of Pew Research Center’s 2026 Political Typology. To learn more about the typology, start with the overview. To find which group is your best fit, take the quiz. 

U.S. as superpower, U.S. as ally

Most Americans say it is at least somewhat important for the United States to be the only military superpower in the world (71%).

At the same time, 62% of Americans hold the view that the U.S. should take into account the interests of its allies, even if it means making compromises with them.

These are the majority positions across five of the nine political typology groups – including some groups that are more to the right in their overall values, and some that are more to the left:

• Loyal Liberals
• Left-Out Left
• Order and Opportunity Left
• Pragmatic and Polite Right
• Unconventional Right

The other groups diverge from this pattern:

• The 7% of the public that are Leftward Progressives stand apart as the only group that does not subscribe to the view that it is at least somewhat important for the U.S. to be the world’s dominant military superpower. Just 14% say this.
• They do, however, align with most other groups when it comes to the United States’ relationships with its allies. They overwhelmingly say the U.S. should take allies’ interests into account, even if it means making compromises.

No Apologies Right and Faith First Conservatives follow the opposite pattern.

• These two groups – the most supportive of President Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again movement – say that America’s military superpower status is very important. They place even more importance on this than other groups.
• But they diverge from most other groups – including other groups with a generally Republican orientation – when it comes to the country’s relationship with allies. Overwhelming majorities in both groups say the U.S. should follow its own interests, even when its allies strongly disagree.

Tuned-Out Middle also are more likely than other groups to say the U.S. should follow its own interests.

What is the political typology?

Pew Research Center’s political typology divides the American public into nine political groups based on responses to 30 questions about people’s social and political values and beliefs.

The goal of this long-standing project is to go beyond partisan leanings or vote choices to provide a deeper understanding of the American political landscape. This is the ninth version of the political typology – the first was conducted nearly 40 years ago.

These questions were asked in a survey of 10,357 U.S. adults conducted Nov. 17-30, 2025, using Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel – a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults.

For more on the cluster analysis process used to create the groups, the questions used, and how we look at data across multiple surveys, visit Appendix B.

Take the typology quiz to find out which political typology group you fit into.

How does the U.S. compare with other countries?

For many groups in the typology, the most common view about how the U.S. compares with other countries is that it is “one of the greatest countries in the world, along with some others.”

But nearly three-quarters of Leftward Progressives say instead that there are other countries in the world that are better than the U.S. They are the only group in which a majority says this. No more than 44% in any other group – even other liberal-oriented groups – hold this view.

Faith First Conservatives and – especially – No Apologies Right diverge from other groups in the opposite direction: Majorities in these groups, including 68% of No Apologies Right, say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world.

Do other countries treat the U.S. fairly?

Most Americans – and majorities in six of the nine typology groups – think that other countries treat the U.S. “somewhat fairly.” But Leftward Progressives, No Apologies Right and Faith First Conservatives again stand out as having different views.

About eight-in-ten No Apologies Right (82%) say other countries do not treat the U.S. fairly – the highest share of any typology group. A narrower majority (62%) of Faith First Conservatives also say this.

On the other end of the spectrum, Leftward Progressives stand out as the only group in which a majority (58%) say other countries generally treat the U.S. very or extremely fairly. (Loyal Liberals are the next-most likely group to say this, at 32%.)

International alliances and organizations

Views about international relationships are reflected in attitudes about multilateral organizations – for instance, in views of NATO.

Most typology groups hold a favorable view of the international security alliance, but positive views are particularly pronounced among Loyal Liberals.

About half of Loyal Liberals – the most institutionalist-oriented of the Democratic-oriented groups – have a very favorable view of NATO.

In the other direction, No Apologies Right and Faith First Conservatives have the most negative views of NATO. Seven-in-ten or more say they have an unfavorable view.

By comparison, the two other groups that have more Republicans than Democrats – Pragmatic and Polite Right and Unconventional Right – have generally favorable views of NATO. This difference in orientation is also reflected in views of some specific foreign policy issues.

Foreign policy flashpoints: Ukraine, Israel, Iran

Several international conflicts that have emerged across the globe in recent years divide the typology groups. Some both emphasize the gaps between the coalitions and reveal divides within them.

Russia and Ukraine

While there have been consistent partisan gaps in views of U.S. support for Ukraine following that country’s invasion by Russia four years ago, the typology provides a nuanced view of these differences.

For example, Loyal Liberals are the group most likely to say the U.S. is not providing enough aid to Ukraine – and one of the groups most likely to have an opinion on the matter. Leftward Progressives are largely aligned with Loyal Liberals on this question.

On the other side of the spectrum, 50% of No Apologies Right say the U.S. is providing too much support to Ukraine, as do 39% of Faith First Conservatives. Only small shares say it is not providing enough.

Other typology groups are more divided on this question.

Confidence in Putin and Zelenskyy

Only very small shares of adults – in any typology group – express confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin to do the right thing regarding world affairs. Leftward Progressives and Loyal Liberals are more intensely negative than other typology groups.

But there are far bigger differences in views of whether Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, does the right thing regarding world affairs. 

Shares with at least some confidence in Zelenskyy:

• No Apologies Right: 24%
• Faith First Conservatives: 22%
• Unconventional Right: 43%
• Pragmatic and Polite Right: 63%
• Tuned-Out Middle: 39%
• Order and Opportunity Left: 51%
• Left-Out Left: 51%
• Loyal Liberals: 88%
• Leftward Progressives: 79%

Israel and Gaza

Views about the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, as well as about the Israeli and Palestinian people, differ widely across the typology groups. And these views reveal splits within both groups on the left and groups on the right.

According to our March 2026 survey, Americans’ overall views of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are more negative than positive – 27% of Americans have at least some confidence in him to do the right thing in world affairs, while 59% do not.

But nearly all Leftward Progressives and Loyal Liberals say they have little confidence in Netanyahu, as do more than six-in-ten Left-Out Left and Order and Opportunity Left.

Both Pragmatic and Polite Right and Unconventional Right also are more negative than positive in their evaluations of Netanyahu. The two most conservative groups (No Apologies Right and Faith First Conservatives) offer the most positive opinions of the Israeli leader.

A survey conducted in September 2025 included questions about perceptions of the Israeli and Palestinian people – distinct from their governments.

Overall, Americans expressed more favorable views of Israeli and Palestinian people than their respective governments. For example, 35% of adults said they had a favorable view of the Israeli government, while 56% of adults said they had a favorable view of Israelis.

In views of the Israeli people and Palestinian people, about a third of U.S. adults (34%) held a favorable view of both groups. Slightly smaller shares held a favorable view of only Israeli (22%) or Palestinian people (18%).

There is a clear contrast between the two most liberal groups:

A 59% majority of Leftward Progressives said they held a favorable opinion of the Palestinian people and an unfavorable opinion of the Israeli people. Roughly a third (32%) had favorable opinions of both groups.

By comparison, 51% of Loyal Liberals had a favorable opinion of both peoples. About a third said they had a favorable view of Palestinians only.

On the right, No Apologies Right stood out for being particularly likely to have positive views of Israelis alongside negative views of Palestinians.

Iran

Several months into the U.S. military conflict with Iran, the typology groups see the war in terms that mostly align with their partisanship. In a survey conducted in April of this year, 59% of Americans say using military force there was the wrong decision, while 38% say it was right.

More likely to say it was the right decision: 

• No Apologies Right
• Faith First Conservatives
• Unconventional Right

More likely to say it was the wrong decision:

• Leftward Progressives
• Loyal Liberals
• Left-Out Left
• Order and Opportunity Left
• Tuned-Out Middle
• Pragmatic and Polite Right