Fewer Voters Identify as Dems
ABC News reports:
A Gallup analysis of interviews of more than 350, 000 Americans in all 50 states and the District of Columbia finds that fewer people defined themselves as Democrats in 2010 than did in 2008.
In fact, notes Gallup “every state and the District of Columbia had fewer residents identifying as Democrats, or identifying as independents but leaning Democratic, in 2010 than in 2008.” States carried by Barack Obama in 2008, including New Hampshire, Maine, Wisconsin, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, and Nevada, saw some of the most significant shifts away from Democratic identification. Back in 2008, for example, Democrats had an 18-point lead in party affiliation in Wisconsin. By the end of 2010, however, that lead had shrunk to 2.6 percent.
In 2008 there were only seven states (Alabama, Kansas, Nebraska, Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah) where the number of people who identified themselves as Republicans outnumbered those who identified themselves as Democrats. By the end of 2010 that had tripled to twenty-two states.
But, as Gallup notes, “the Democratic losses have not led to major gains in Republican affiliation.” In other words, even as they are no longer identifying themselves as Democrats, Americans aren’t flocking in droves toward Republicans either. Still, party identification doesn’t always translate into votes. For example, in West Virginia, self-identified Democrats outnumber self-identified Republicans by 47.6 to 37.9 percent. A Democratic presidential candidate hasn’t won West Virginia since 1996.
Ultimately, it means that the Electoral College map looks much more dynamic today than it did at the end of 2008 or even 2009.
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