Political Parties

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.

A slight majority (51%) of independents support President Obama in a hypothetical general election matchup with Mitt Romney. Independents have shifted from Romney to Obama since January.

Overview As the country enters into the 2012 presidential election cycle, the electorate’s partisan affiliations have shifted significantly since Barack Obama won office nearly three years ago. In particular, the Democrats hold a much narrower edge than they did in 2008, particularly when the partisan leanings of independents are taken into account. Notably, the GOP […]

Independent voters now match Democratic voters in number.

Overview For the third national election in a row, independent voters may be poised to vote out the party in power. The Republican Party holds a significant edge in preferences for the upcoming congressional election among likely voters, in large part because political independents now favor Republican candidates by about as large a margin as […]

Overview The Republican Party’s prospects for the midterm elections look much better than they did four years ago at this time, while the Democrats’ look much worse. Voter preferences for the upcoming congressional elections remain closely divided (45% support the Democratic candidate or lean Democratic, while 44% favor the Republican or lean Republican). In polling […]

Overview Centrism has emerged as a dominant factor in public opinion as the Obama era begins. The political values and core attitudes that the Pew Research Center has monitored since 1987 show little overall ideological movement. Republicans and Democrats are even more divided than in the past, while the growing political middle is steadfastly mixed […]

Independent voters, who will be voting in many of the more than 20 presidential primaries and caucuses being held tomorrow, hold substantially more favorable views of John McCain (64%) and Barack Obama (62%).

That's the percentage of political independents who now say they approve of President Bush's job performance. Independent voters proved crucial to the Democrats' victory on Nov. 7.