Pew: Most Americans Identify As Independents
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Democrats, Independents, Polls, Republicans37% in fact.
However, the really bad news is for the GOP…
In 5,566 interviews with registered voters conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press during the first two months of 2008, 36% identify themselves as Democrats, and just 27% as Republicans.The share of voters who call themselves Republicans has declined by six points since 2004, and represents, on an annualized basis, the lowest percentage of self-identified Republican voters in 16 years of polling by the Center.
And here’s more bad news…
The Democratic Party has also built a substantial edge among independent voters. Of the 37% who claim no party identification, 15% lean Democratic, 10% lean Republican, and 12% have no leaning either way.
5% doesn’t look like such a substantial edge at first glance. After all, if Republicans take 3/4 of that 12%, they’d have more of the Independent vote than Dems. But when you look at the overall party indentification and add the Indy vote to both sides, Dems would have 54% to the Republicans 45%. Now THAT is a big gap.
I’m becoming more and more convinced that McCain is going to have to cross over to the center left this Fall if he has any hope of winning. He has already started with environmental issues and his tone on foreign policy on last week’s global tour, but what else does he have in his bag of centrist tricks?
This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Democrats, Independents, Polls, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 pm
McCain may have to move toward the center but he’s still going to be turned into road kill come November. He can’t win. His brand of politics is so easily debunked after all these years that he has to be leading 60 - 40 right now in order to even stand a chance.
I don’t see McCain doing anything but dropping in the polls over the next 7 months - and independents won’t help. The drop won’t be anything drastic yet a few points up and then a few points down….but the trend will be down these next few months and heading into the Summer and Fall.
Lieberman (the “independent” who never had the cajones to call himself what he really is - republican) acting as Grima Worm Tongue isn’t helping either. Remember, that sound mike is always on……especially when the very old Mr. McCain has a senior moment - as he has earned the right to have. Oh, and let’s not forget the possibility that many of these “indy’s” are former Republicans who are just too embarrassed to remind anyone that their voting habits over the last 10-15 years are the reason this country is in the state it’s in. They are ashamed (as they should be) and they either won’t show up at the polls or they will go with the Dem nominee.
This fall we will see the old brand of conservatism finally killed and consigned to the trash heap where it belongs. The problems facing this nation are far too serious and far to numerous to rely on the narrow-minded and under developed ideas of today’s alleged conservatives (there was never anything conservative about them – they’re just mean spirited bullies who call themselves conservatives, really they are just a big joke). We will see Dem’s sweep the Congress to a new super majority and we will see a Dem president. Finally, we will see a new brand of politics based on ideas, discourse, and doing what is best for the American people. Guaranteed. (Although the graft and corruption will still be going on it will be relegated to the back rooms – and frankly I wouldn’t have it any other way.)
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I agree. People thought Giuliani would be president before they got a good look at him. Once the average voter hears about his stance on tax cuts, for example, he’ll start dropping.
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
But can McCain get away with trying to move to the center? Will his opponent and their allies be able to reveal to the public how hard to the right he ran to get the nomination and his high lifetime rating from the ACU and basically ask “Will the real John McCain please stand up?”?