Political Parties & Polarization

People connect to form groups on Twitter for a variety of purposes. The networks they create have identifiable contours that are shaped by the topic being discussed, the information and influencers driving the conversation, and the social network structures of the participants.

People connect to form groups on Twitter for a variety of purposes. The networks they create have identifiable contours that are shaped by the topic being discussed, the information and influencers driving the conversation, and the social network structures of the participants.

A daily roundup of fresh data from scholars, governments, think tanks, pollsters and other social science researchers. Politics Record-high 42% of Americans identify as independents, Gallup What we know and don’t know about our polarized politics, The Washington Post Economy U.S.-NAFTA trade exceeds $100B for first time, Bureau of Transportation Statistics Concentration of wealth, NYC, […]

There is a 17-point gap between the percentage of Tea Party Republicans (62%) and non-Tea Party Republicans (45%) who say they always vote in primary elections.

While the Senate appears to have reached a deal on executive-branch appointments that heads off a showdown over filibuster rules, the fact that the confrontation went as far as it did points up the increasingly polarized state of Congress. From immigration reform to food stamps to student loans, it almost seems as if congressional Republicans and Democrats inhabit […]

A plurality of independents (42%) rate Mitt Romney’s choice of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate “only fair” or “poor,” but even more rate Joe Biden’s performance negatively.

When it comes to American views on government and social values, the average partisan gap has nearly doubled over the last 25 years -- from 10 percentage points in 1987 to 18 percentage points.

Update: In the years since this piece was published, the survey field has changed. The link between Americans’ willingness to take surveys and their political views became stronger. Researchers developed new methods for addressing this. Pew Research Center’s surveys of U.S. adults now weight on political party affiliation, but the way that is done differs […]

The ranks of political independents continue to grow and now stand at 38% of the public.