Thread: As parties drift apart, independents grow rapidly

Voters who call themselves Republicans or Democrats are increasingly turning a deaf ear to each other as partisan views harden, making the growing ranks of independents key to any long-term political gain.

Those independent voters, according to data from the Pew Research Center and the Gallup Organization, are becoming more socially liberal while dividing between liberalism and conservatism on the economy.

Independent voters hue more closely to Democrats on whether government should regulate the free market economy, but they run closer to self-identified Republicans on matters of helping the needy even if it means going into more debt.

Social issues, though, have lost significant potency as a political tool Republicans would be able to use. A wide majority of independent voters say they favor civil unions for gay couples, and more Americans say they oppose banning books containing "dangerous ideas" from public school libraries than support the idea.

Issues surrounding moral values are less potent now than they have been in decades, the survey found, as most Americans fret about an economy that is hemorrhaging jobs. When President Bush won re-election in 2004, a win some attributed to anti-same-sex marriage initiatives on several state ballots, 27 percent of voters said moral values would mean most in determining their presidential vote. Today, that number stands at 10 percent.

Meanwhile, half of voters say the economy and jobs are their top issues, a 29 percent increase since 2004. Only a candidate's position on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has seen a steeper drop-off than moral values, losing 18 percentage points between 2004 and 2009.

Still, while some polls have shown support for same-sex marriage rising in recent years, 71 percent say they have "old-fashioned" values about family and marriage, and only 34 percent of independent voters say they back allowing homosexual marriages, a position almost exactly amidst the number of Democrats who favor the idea (50 percent) and Republicans who do (17 percent).

The acceptance of a more liberal social outlook has been fueled by the rising influence of Generation Y voters, those born after 1977. As those born before 1928, known as the Greatest Generation, dwindle in influence, their more conservative views are being replaced by vastly more liberal younger voters.

But voters of all stripes seem to contradict themselves, especially on healthcare issues. Overall, 86 percent of voters say the government should do more to make health care affordable and accessible, but 46 percent say they are concerned the government will become too involved.

As has been noted in surveys for months, those who call themselves Republicans are a shrinking lot. Just 23 percent say they are members of the GOP, the lowest number since Ronald Reagan's first term as president. But the party is not necessarily becoming more conservative, the surveys found.

Though conservatives make up two-thirds of the Republican Party -- a far greater fraction than that of liberals in the Democratic Party -- that number is up only slightly since 2000. The percentage of Republicans who call themselves moderates is down just two points, from 29 percent to 27 percent, in the same period.

Democrats, on the other hand, are much more ideologically diverse. With four in ten Democrats calling themselves liberals, the party is in the hands of self-described moderates (32 percent) and conservatives (24 percent).

Danger signs remain, though, as Republicans trail badly among non-white voters. And as the gender gap continues to benefit Democrats among women voters, the GOP is losing more men while Democrats pick up more women. Democrats now lead Republicans among women voters by 19 points, up substantially from the 10-point advantage the party held in the 2004 elections and the four-point advantage Democrats owned as recently as 1996.

Perhaps most worrisome, the Republican Party is aging, with the average GOP voter clocking in at 48.3 years old. In 1990, the average Republican was just 44.1 years old, and the share of GOP voters over the age of 50 has grown by 10 points, to 46 percent. The average age of Democrats has remained largely unchanged, at 46.6 years in 2009, and the over-50 share has only increased two points in the same time span, to 44 percent.

Those findings, Pew reports, account for an overwhelming lead Democrats enjoy among younger voters, while Republicans are in danger of losing their older voters.

Meanwhile, four months into President Obama's tenure, African American voters have a much more positive outlook on the country than they have in recent years. The percentage of black voters who say Americans can always find a way to solve problems has risen by 22 points since 2007, and those who believe voting gives people like them a say in government has gone up 12 points, to 75 percent.

Black voters have also experienced a significant drop-off in the number who say there hasn't been much improvement for African Americans in the United States, and the number who see society as divided between the "haves" and the "have-nots" has dropped 11 points, to 29 percent, just since October 2008.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/as- ... 05-23.html

I don't think there are many staunch party supporters any more. We are seeing Americans for what they are and have always been--free thinkers. How can I be loyal to a party if I only agree with position A, but position B is everything I object to? The Dems are in power and IMO, they are screwing up left and right. But when the Repubs were in power, they also screwed up. The main problem I see is that very, very few lawmakers even bother to consider the opinion of their constituents--the disease of DC has always been how to attract the major money to get re-elected.

Those independent voters, according to data from the Pew Research Center and the Gallup Organization, are becoming more socially liberal

That isn't good for our cause. The further left folks drift on social issues, the harder it becomes to gain the support necessary to rid the country of illegal aliens.