Alex Lundry

Pew’s update to their comprehensive Political Values study…ultimately a must read for anyone interested in politics, but nonetheless, I’ve compiled a few of the most compelling findings below:

• The proportion of independents now equals its highest level in 70 years.
• On an annual basis, the only previous year when independent identification has been this high was in 1992 when Ross Perot ran a popular independent candidacy (me: it is truly remarkable that IND numbers are this high without a cult of personality to anchor it).
• The lowest level of professed affiliation with the GOP in at least a quarter century.
• BUT little evidence that as the number of Republicans has decreased they have become much more conservative (me: this was surprising…it certainly feels like this isn’t the case).
• The Republican Party is facing formidable demographic challenges. For the first time in at least two decades, Republicans are older than Democrats on average.

This is only a handful of the great data in this report.  I encourage everyone to check the rest out for themselves.