Maybe a sizeable number of
folks are just too embarrassed to admit that they are Democrats or Republicans.
Not too surprising if it's true—the national "approval rating" for
Congress has been down around 10% for a long time, generally we think our elected representatives are worthless.
Gallup reported recently that
the number of adults who explicitly identify themselves as a Democrat (31%) or
Republican (25%) is at the lowest level in the last 25 years—and the
ambiguously named "Independents" have been growing steadily for the
last several years.
In fact, about 42% of Americans
claim to be "independent" when first asked about political
affiliation. Now, let's be clear: all but a handful of those
"independents" readily admit that they "lean" to the
Democratic or Republican side (about an even split between the two traditional
parties).
I think the point of these
Gallup results is that a lot of folks don't feel comfortable calling themselves
a Democrat or Republican, and, I think, with good reason. The elected Dems and
GOP reps in Congress have been doing close to nothing for several years to do
their duty along the lines of boosting growth in our national economy and
helping to create jobs for millions of Americans who want to work.
But I think there's a lurker in
these survey results: there's no clear and accepted concept of what being
"independent" means, and I'm pretty sure that the roughly 100 million
Americans who claim to be "independent" have more than one concept of
what that declaration implies.
Very fundamental elements of
our presumed representative democracy are off balance, out of kilter and corrupted.
Millions and millions of voters are confused, conflicted and contemptuous of politics
and the "system."
Voter turnout has been dangerously
low for generations. What if we gave an election and nobody showed up to vote?
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