Social change constitutes a key component of definitions of political attitudes. Conservatism is associated with preference for the status quo and resistance to change, while liberalism is associated with more openness to social change (Wilson, 1973; Kerlinger, 1984; see Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003, for a review). Research on regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) has also demonstrated differences in openness to change. Individuals in a prevention focus are less likely to change their current course of action, or to exchange a currently possessed object, than individuals in a promotion focus (Liberman, Idson, Camacho, & Higgins, 1999). We therefore hypothesized that conservatism should be associated with prevention focus and liberalism should be associated with promotion focus. Two studies investigated these hypotheses. In Study 1, regulatory focus was manipulated by having participants write an essay about hopes and goals (promotion focus) or duties and obligations (prevention focus), and political attitudes were measured. Individuals in the prevention condition expressed significantly more conservatism than individuals in the promotion condition. There was no significant effect for liberalism; however, the means were in the predicted direction. In Study 2, regulatory focus was measured using the computerized selves questionnaire (Higgins, Shah, & Friedman, 1997), and political attitudes were measured. Prevention focus predicted greater conservatism (and promotion focus predicted less conservatism). Once again, the effect for liberalism was not significant, but was in the predicted direction. These results contribute to our understanding of political differences, and may lead to a better understanding of social policy preferences.