Since then, the importance of the practical goal has increased, with 4 in 10 respondents in Massachusetts, Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee saying that defeating Mr. Obama was their priority, while the goal of ideological purity has declined in perceived importance.
However, many young people, having been turned off voting by declining ideological differences between the parties and a series of highly predictable election outcomes, may never take up the habit.
The Justice Ministry ruled that the breakaway faction's congress was illegitimate, leaving Mr. Zyuganov in command of a party that, dogged by infighting and ideological drift, is declining in size and influence.
But it's also a reflection of the decline of ideological and class politics.
There is real harm done by instrumentalizing disorders — whether it's in the service of a legal defense, as in Komisarjevsky's case, or more generally to buttress ideological arguments about the decline of the American family.
"It's an ideological matter," he said, declining to discuss it further.
Ms. Kam also cited the easing of "ideological restrictions," which tracks the rapid decline of ideology in most every aspect of Chinese life.
Since Reagan, our economy and common civility have been in decline, duplicating the conservative ideological dream that served up the Great Depression, reflecting the politics and policies of conservatives both social and fiscal.
One is that the old class-based, ideological conflict between left and right has declined.
The paradox is that at the same time that Al Qaeda's political and ideological support in the Muslim world has been declining sharply, it has nonetheless been able to remain resilient as a source of disruptive terrorist violence.
