Media, Politics

Number of Americans Associated With Either Party At Near Historic Lows

220px-Democratslogo.svg200px-Republicanlogo.svgA new poll shows that the number of citizens who identify with the Democratic or the Republican parties are at a near all time low. Only 29 percent of respondents in a Gallup survey identify as Democrats (the lowest point in 27 years). Only 26 percent defined themselves as Republicans in 2015. Thus, while the number of Americans in either party has fallen to near all-time lows, there remains virtually no choice other than those selected by the two parties as leaders.  Another surprising poll, however, says that 20 percent of Democrats might support Trump in the general.  Some 14 percent of Republicans said that they might support Clinton in the general election.

Roughly four in ten U.S. adults now say they are political independents, though the Democrats have a slight advantage on how independents lean.

In the meantime, critics within the Democratic party have increasingly accused party leaders like Debbie Wasserman-Schulz of openly rigging the process for Hillary Clinton while critics in the Republican Party say Donald Trump will destroy the GOP.

The result is a growing political crisis of disaffected and alienated voters, which explains the popularity of candidates like Trump. The perception of a duopoly is likely to increase the anger of the near majority in the country rejecting both parties. That can produce a dangerous disassociation of the public from their government.

65 thoughts on “Number of Americans Associated With Either Party At Near Historic Lows”

  1. Prof. Turley writes, “The perception of a duopoly is likely to increase the anger of the near majority in the country rejecting both parties. That can produce a dangerous disassociation of the public from their government.”

    I disagree that dissentious dissociation would be dangerous. I think it would be quite healthy at this point. What’s dangerous is the level of hatred over the past 35 years our government has created worldwide in a war economy sanctioned by Republicans and Democrats alike. It’s clear that the two-party system scratches and covers its own back only, it will never permit third-party voice the same volume, and as a result it’s a corrupted system.

    Reaganomics is unsustainable.

  2. I take a lot of surveys and they break out the independents and how they are leaning.

  6. Anybody that supports the Republicans and the Democrats are accomplices to murder – Gerald Celente

    Absolutely!! I was a conservative republican for decades but after Bush Sr’s first term in office I realized it’s ALL a sham. I hate both parties equally, and I love to party.

    Our governance is legislation by blackmail.

    Our governance is legislation by Fraud, the entire system we live in is one massive fraud and coercion to keep the sleeple in line.

  8. Anybody that supports the Republicans and the Democrats are accomplices to murder – Gerald Celente
    They, as supporters of Obama, have blood on their hands. They have the blood of millions of men, women and children on their hands.
    Obama was a war criminal in 2005 voting funding for the illegal wars – war crimes. Obama is still committing war crimes in 2016.
    http://buenavistamall.com/bombedchildren.jpg
    http://buenavistamall.com/bombedchildren2.jpg

  9. Our governance is legislation by blackmail. Perhaps the defectors from the parties are tired of it.

  10. The office of the Presidency could very easily be designed to be separate from either political party, something like the Supreme Court, although no system is perfect. The idea of a check and balance system built into the government structure, something the founding fathers rightfully saw as a necessary idea, has been eclipsed by the oligarchy we now have.

    If the Presidency was a position achieved in an entirely other than now typical manner, no private funding, no lobbying, just government funding, it would be the beginning of returning to a democracy. The President could have the power to limit funds and take the oligarchs out of the equation.

  11. The growing number of Independents are a good sign. The thought is they are mostly moderate. I wouldn’t call them so much moderate, more likely discerning or at the least interested in NOT continuing the Big Government Party’s agenda.

    Gov. Abbot in Texas has joined the growing call for an Article V convention of states. I used to believe this could all be corrected by educating voters on U.S. civics but I believe we are beyond that point. A COS may be risky but it’s downside would likely put us in the same place progressives are taking this country anyway.

  12. I read both the Dem and Repub 2012 Party Platforms (75 pages +/- each) and could see little difference between them. The RPP had slightly more emphasis on guns, religion, and abortions but the Dems worked hard not to offend any of those interests. Otherwise they are similar on jobs, freedom, security, etc. Chances are that none of the candidates have ever read them.

    There is a controversy in my state about whether or not party caucuses should be open to the public. Those who currently hold power want to strategize in private. That makes them private powerhouses, without input from the public.

    If journalists were on their toes they would ask candidates to comment on the fact that such low percents align with either party.

  13. Parties no longer exist ,in the traditional sense. They are hollowed out shells that are used by members of cults of personality to augment the work of SuperPacs.

    Parties used to be training grounds for politicians interested in government. They weren’t perfect but the to and fro of political and policy debate provided a school so to speak wherein young up and comers learned how to work with others and compromise. corporations and their lobbyists have rewritten the laws to hand virtual control of our political system over to a closed circle of billionaires whose money funds nasty personality focused campaigns designed to get the working and middle class to fight amongst themselves while the billionaires and the corporations take everything.

    When parties actually had some power unions were strong; our manufacturing was humming and the middle class was growing. We need to get big money out of politics!

  14. Ok everything is messed up. (Excuse the following rambling)

    The sky is falling. SNAFU, FUBAR, Falcon Codes,

    So many want to reset…but what does that look like? Only white landowners can vote?
    Still wonder about 18yr olds voting. Just because we could shoot, we got the vote. Now we know what truly goes on in the adolescent mind…no wonder we charged into battles….but vote??

    Expected life span about 45 with original SSI set at 60/62? A money maker until we started living longer, through who’s fault? Yeh..lets reset.

    Why integrate the Armed Forces…..let white guys do it while minorities shine the boots and make dinner and beds.

    No FDA ???—ah noooo…I remember food issues in the ’50s.

    Does it really make any difference who wins the White House? Anyone remember the political cartoon with LBJ’s shock when looking into the bathroom mirror and seeing Barry Goldwater for his reflection?

    Can’t wage police actions (aka war) without Congressional funding. So who’s really responsible?

    Obama didn’t pass the ACA; signed it? Yes. But remember …”pass it so we can read it?”

    By the way, who on this thread wants the job? Uh huh…thought so.

    Actually if you actually are thinking about being able to do a better job, get ready and run for the position in 2020…the year of perfect vision for Monday morning quarterbacks.

  15. It’s nice to see that the public educational dumbing down system has had limited success…it seems that the majority of Americans, with third grade capabilities, have enough sense to sniff out the rats…now…if only they could sniff out those that are pulling their strings there may be a ray of hope for the US.

  16. The public NEEDS to disassociate themselves with the existing corporate-dominated government which is owned by the ultra-rich and permeated with graft and corruption. If Trump wins, it will be BECAUSE he is not a professional politician who will simply continue the status quo in Washington D.C. Certainly almost anyone who is not a member of the Good Ol’ Boys (and Girls) Club in the capitol will be a better choice than having the country suffer through a term by another lying Clinton in office.

  17. The USA is supposed to be a Constitutional Republic, but we look more like a faux democracy that is becoming a dictatorship.

    I’d like to see all US political parties disbanded. Let candidates run as just candidates. Let them espouse their ideas & let the people decide.

    It’s worth a try. We could always go back to the corrupt mess we have today under the one party now in charge, the Big Government Party. This carrion fowl has to wings, the D wing & the R wing.

    Each uses the ‘beak’ I the ‘middle’ to devour our substance. Hence the approach to a 20 TRILLION $$ debt.

    God help us. I think He is the only one remaining that can…

    Anyone look up the difference between a republic & a democracy? It is quite a difference…

    And Trump isn’t destroying the RNC. The RNC is destroying itself. That’s why I left that half of the BGP. IF the GOP had stayed true it’s platform, that would have made all the difference.

    SamFox

  18. @JT
    “Only 29 percent of respondents in a Gallup survey identify as Democrats (the lowest point in 27 years) Only 26 percent defined themselves as Republicans in 2015.”

    I take this to be very good news reflecting a growing awareness among Americans of the minor differences between the two wings of the Corporate Welfare-Warfare Party.

    What’s not to celebrate in this development?

    See Ralph Nader’s Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State (Nation Books, 2014).

    The American corporate (semi-fascist) state very much needs dismantling for the benefit of the 99%, and the two major American political parties, in every essential owned and operated by the corporate state’s principal crony benefactors and beneficiaries, are major obstacles to that dismantling.

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