Per MSNBC Online:

"When asked on which one or two of specific values they thought the Democratic Party is the strongest, 37 percent cited ensuring equal opportunity, 27 percent said tolerance, 19 percent said individuality, 14 percent said compassion, and just 5 percent said strong faith. For the Republican Party, on the other hand, 31 percent cited strengthening families, 25 percent said strong faith, 21 percent said personal responsibility and just 6 percent cited compassion and tolerance."

Here, faith emphasis becomes a clear factor in Americans definition of Democratic and Republican parties. But, so too does the apparent ideological split between "ensuring equal opportunity" and the emphasis on "personal responsibility" and "tolerance" and "strengthening families." Although these values don't seem on the surface to stand in necessary opposition, they are, when put into practice, set into tension with one another.

The former pairing of 'equal opportunity' and 'personal responsibility' serves as code for positions on such debates as Affirmative Action, No Child Left Behind, and Welfare Reform. The latter pairing of 'tolerance' and 'strengthening families' serves as code for positions on such debates as Gay Marriage and Gay Adoption as well as Abortion Rights.

The Democratic pronounced valuing of 'individuality' makes sense as a complement to 'tolerance'; together these suggest a higher potential for Democrats to embrace nonconformity. However, in practice, the nonconformities so embraced follow a proscribed set (religious extremists, rural militia, etc. need not apply). Of course, the Republican value of "strengthening familiies" likewise suggests an embedded limit; the families supported tend to be traditional or to have originated as traditional.

An interesting feature of the poll -- and this may be determined by the polling questions themselves, which are not reported -- may be the lack of more externalized values (those extra-domestic in orientation) finding expression here. The questions of capitalist economics, world policing, human rights, and humanitarian aid don't seem as readily suggested by the values on which the poll touches.