Fewer People Willing To ID As Republicans

The Pew Research Center has produced a rather interesting survey. One of the aspects of the survey was on party identification. It seems that back in 1987 the two political parties were almost equal in the percentage of the population that identified themselves as a member of each party -- with 33% identifying as Democrats and 31% identifying as Republicans (while 29% said they were Independents). But there has been a significant change in party identification in the last 25 years.

And the change that has occurred is mainly with the Republican Party. In 2012, 32% of Americans identified as Democrats (very close to the 33% that did so in 1987). But the percentage who identify as Republican has dropped to its lowest point in the last 25 years. Currently only 24% of the population are willing to identify themselves as Republicans (a drop of 7 points), while 38% now say they are Independents (a rise of 9 points).

Why are people fleeing the Republican Party? A clue as to the reason can be found in another part of the survey. When questioned about values, the two parties showed an 18 point difference in the answers to those questions. Back in 1987, that difference was only 10 points. That's a significant change -- a change that doesn't show up in other demographics. These differences in these same values questions by race, income, education religiosity, and gender were very similar in 2012 to what they were in 1987. It was only in members of the political parties where the differences increased significantly.

Now we know that the Democratic Party believes much the same things it did in 1987. If it had moved to the left (as many on the right want us to believe), then party membership would probably have dropped, since this has always been a country that values moderation. The movement has been within the Republican Party, which has moved far to the right of where it was in 1987. Today's far-right Republicans make conservatives like Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater, and William Buckley (all clearly considered right-wingers in 1987) look like moderates.

The teabaggers and evangelicals have taken over the Republican Party, and either drummed out or scared off many of the party's moderates. This was clearly demonstrated in the party primaries this year. And that is why party identification has dropped significantly. There simply isn't any room in the party for anyone who's not an ultra-right-wing ideologue.

Another interesting part of the survey looked at the racial, gender, and philosophical make-up of each political party. Here is the profile of each party:

There's quite a difference between the two parties -- making it pretty obvious which is the "big tent" party.