Dems taking it on chin in daily tracking poll
Bob Unruh
The party of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is taking it on the chin in a daily tracking poll.
The Gallup survey found that only 25 percent of voters self-identify as Democrats as of about the beginning of this year.
The percentage who identify as Republican is 28, while it is independents who have made the biggest gains, measuring 44 percent.
The data lists the trends from 2004, and notably, Democrats plunged from 31 percent at the time of the 2016 presidential election to the current 25 percent.
Republicans were essentially unchanged, at 27 percent at the election and 28 percent now.
But independents were at 36 percent when President Donald Trump was elected and now stand at 44 percent.
For those who identify themselves only as leaning toward one party or the other, the two parties have reversed since the election.
At the time of November voting, 48 percent considered themselves leaning Democrat and 43 percent Republican. The latest figures show 44 percent lean Republican and 43 percent to the Democratic Party.
The trend over the years has put the Democrats slightly ahead. They topped out with loyalty from 40 percent of the population early in 2008 when Obama was surging in the polls against Hillary Clinton, who went on the first of two losses in her bids to be president.
The profile of the Democrats and Republicans was about the same back in 2004, when George W. Bush was president, as it is now. Then the GOP had 32 percent to the Dems’ 28 percent. Independents then were at 40 percent, meaning in the intervening years both parties have lost to the ranks of the independents.
The two parties were tied at 28 percent support last July, and the GOP was ahead by 1 point in May. Most of the time, the Democrats have led by small percentage differences.
A blogger pointed out that no one would learn that by simply watching network and cable news.
But the results of Gallup’s tracking are the latest set of data indicating the “modern Democratic Party is in serious political peril,” he wrote.
At Peoples Pundit Daily the blogger noted: “Not only do Republican states continue to outnumber Democratic states, but every single shift in party affiliation over the year has benefited the GOP. According to Gallup U.S. Daily, 21 states are now classified as solid or leaning Republican, 14 are solid or leaning Democratic and 15 states are competitive.
“That represents a monumental shift from a 30-state advantage for the Democrats in 2008 to a 7-state advantage for Republicans. Gallup’s findings are largely in line with the latest results published on the PPD Battleground State Voter Profiles, which found only a slightly larger Democratic advantage in Virginia. However, independents continued to shift their allegiance toward the GOP, resulting in a state that is still very much competitive.”
The results of the shift?
From 2008 to 2016, the Democratic Party has lost a net nine seats in the U.S. Senate, 63 in the U.S. House of Representatives, 13 governorships, 949 state legislative seats and full control of 29 state legislatures.
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