The question of whether libertarianism is gaining public support has received increased attention, with talk of a Rand Paul run for president and a recent New York Times magazine story asking if the ‘Libertarian Moment” has finally arrived. But if it has, there are still many Americans who do not have a clear sense of what ‘libertarian” means, and our surveys find that, on many issues, the views among people who call themselves libertarian do not differ much from those of the overall public.

About one-in-ten Americans (11%) describe themselves as libertarian and know what the term means. Respondents were asked whether the term ‘libertarian” describes them well and – in a separate multiple-choice question – asked for the definition of ‘someone whose political views emphasize individual freedom by limiting the role of government”; 57% correctly answered the multiple-choice question, choosing ‘libertarian” from a list that included ‘progressive,” ‘authoritarian,” ‘Unitarian” and ‘communist.” On the self-description question 14% said they were libertarian. For the purpose of this analysis we focus on the 11% who both say they are libertarian and know the definition of […]