This from How Is America’s Electorate Changing? by Charles Babington/Trust, August 13, 2018*:
“In the 2017 interviews, 37 percent of registered voters identified as independents, 33 percent as Democrats, and 26 percent as Republicans."
“Only a decade ago, for instance, more Democrats identified their views as “moderate” as opposed to “liberal.” Now the reverse is true, with 46 percent of Democrats describing their views as “liberal,” 37 percent as “moderate,” and 15 percent as “conservative.” Republicans remain heavily “conservative” in outlook (68 percent).”
Doing the math, that means 15% of the American electorate are liberal Democrats and 17% are conservative Republicans. Yet liberals and conservatives are increasingly dominating their respective parties, meaning a lot of the poor electorate is being left out of the political equation. These marginalized Americans may vote for whatever party is closest to their views, but that doesn’t mean they’re happy with it. And it certainly doesn’t mean that they are “really” Democrats or Republicans, as if those two labels represented a natural division of humanity. As if all political inclinations were points along a line stretching from left to right, liberal to conservative. As if “moderate” was simply a middle range on the line, a weaker version of the end points. As if moderates were liberals and conservatives who simply lacked the courage of their true convictions.
Let’s think beyond the line. Thinking within a box would be progress.
*Accessed on 9/11/18: https://magazine.pewtrusts.org/en/archive/summer-2018/news-how-is-americas-electorate-changing.