2013-01-09

Now 47 Percent Identify as Democrats or Lean That Way, While Only 42 Percent Identify as Republican or Lean That Way – By Glynn Wilson – It appears that the centrist course set by President Barack Obama in office and in the presidential campaign of 2012, and the decline of the radical tea party, are beginning to make a difference in public opinion. While the latest Gallup poll on party identification still has more Americans saying they are independents than either Republicans or Democrats, the first story out on the subject in 2013 reveals an uptick in independents who lean toward the Democratic Party. According to Gallup, an average of 47 percent of Americans now identify themselves as Democrats or said they were independents who lean toward supporting the Democratic Party, compared to 42 percent who identify themselves as Republicans or lean toward that party. “That re-establishes a Democratic edge in party affiliation after the two parties were essentially tied in 2010 and 2011,” Gallup concludes in its analysis of the public opinion survey data. Gallup has only been measuring party identification for the past 21 years. Since 1991, the data has consistently shown an advantage for the Democrats. In [...]

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