Portrait of Barry Goldwater
Right · Politician · From history

Barry Goldwater

US Senator from Arizona, 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987

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The 1964 Republican nominee who declared that extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, reshaping modern conservatism, and who later broke with the religious right on social issues.

Barry Goldwater sits in the right-libertarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: strongly free market and leaning libertarian. The clearest positions are strongly free market on economy, strongly strength-first on war and peace and leaning traditional on culture. The profile is close to the middle on religion.

Read more about Barry Goldwater on Wikipedia →

Where Barry Goldwater sits on ten dimensions

Each scale runs from one pole to the other, and the dot shows the overall tendency of this person's record and public life. These are simplified estimates and open to debate.

💰EconomyStrongly free market
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityLeaning libertarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureLeaning traditional
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationLeaning nationalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentLeaning growth-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologyLeaning tech-optimist
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceStrongly strength-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsLeaning anti-establishment
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionCentered on religion
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismLeaning interventionist
Non-interventionistInterventionist

People most like Barry Goldwater

Liz Truss Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 202297%Ayaan Hirsi Ali Somali-Dutch-American writer and former MP96%Ronald Reagan US President, 1981 to 198996%Margaret Thatcher UK Prime Minister, 1979 to 199095%Junichiro Koizumi Prime Minister of Japan, 2001 to 200695%Andris Kulbergs Prime Minister of Latvia, 2026 to present94%Silvio Berlusconi Prime Minister of Italy, 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 201194%John Howard Prime Minister of Australia, 1996 to 200792%

People furthest from Barry Goldwater

Emma Goldman Russian-born anarchist and writer, 1869 to 19406%John Lennon British musician and peace activist, 1940 to 19806%Petra Kelly German Green co-founder, 1947 to 19927%Leo Tolstoy Russian novelist and moral thinker, 1828 to 19108%

Political views closest to Barry Goldwater

FusionismBlends free-market and small-government ideas with traditional social values and a…97%Thatcherism and ReaganismFree-market economics, tax cuts, deregulation and a firm stance toward the Soviet Union.94%NeoconservatismPairs free markets and traditional values with an assertive, democracy-promoting foreign…85%Liberal conservatismCombines free markets and limited government with respect for institutions, tradition…83%

Read more about Barry Goldwater

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Biographies of Barry GoldwaterBooks on fusionism

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Percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions. Including a person here is for study and comparison, not approval. Portrait: United States Senate, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; see all photo credits.