A new Gallup poll reaffirms the growing ideological polarization in America over the past decade, with the percentage of moderates decreasing and the percentages of liberals and conservatives rising.

Conservatives in American still outnumber liberals 2 to 1 – a trend that has generally held steady since 1992, according the poll released Thursday.

For 2011, 40% of Americans considered themselves as conservative, 35% as moderate and 21% as liberal.

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This marks the third consecutive year that conservatives have outnumbered moderates.

Moderates have either tied or outnumbered conservatives for more than a decade but they have seen a decline from 40 percent to 35 percent in the past 10 years.

Among the 5,912 Republicans that polled, 51% say they consider themselves conservative while moderates consisted of the majority within Independents and Democrats (41% and 38% respectively).

Over age groups, conservatism sees an upward trend. Most Americans ages 18 to 29 years are moderate at 40% while 28% view themselves as either conservative or liberal.

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Those 65 and older are mostly conservative at 49%, while 31% view themselves as moderate and 16% liberal.

Gallup explains the trend:

“It appears that conservative views take hold as Americans age, which may also explain the even higher rates of conservatism among 50- to 64-year-olds and seniors. However, in addition to these age patterns, it appears that conservatism has increased overall since 2002 because of heightened conservatism among all age groups of Americans 30 and older.”

The 2011 results are based on 20 Gallup and USA Today/Gallup polls conducted between January and December, involving 20,392 interviews with US adults.