Democrats Edge Out Republicans In Battle To See Who Can Alienate The Most Voters
More than 2.5 million voters have left the Democratic and Republican parties since the 2008 elections, while the number of independent voters continues to grow.
A USA TODAY analysis of state voter registration statistics shows registered Democrats declined in 25 of the 28 states that register voters by party. Republicans dipped in 21 states, while independents increased in 18 states.
Despite mounting disgust for both parties, it does appear as though Republicans being somewhat less disgusting is giving them an edge in swing states:
The trend is acute in states that are key to next year’s presidential race. In the eight swing states that register voters by party, Democrats’ registration is down by 800,000 and Republicans’ by 350,000. Independents have gained 325,000.
Whatever short term political outcomes we arrive at from this trend, I wonder if its genesis isn’t in the growth of government. USA Today calls it a decades-long trend, and I can’t dispute that, but I wonder if you could track a correlation between the growing size of government and the disgust with the people we elect to that government.
Because it’s hard to get consensus on things. Even at the local level, we are a diverse nation, and the more the government does the more it is going to breed contempt from various demographics in our society. Whether it’s some city council banning fast food restaurants, or the federal government fighting a war on organic milk, the government today is doing more than it ever has before. And that’s pissing people off.
This isn’t the only metric indicating this correlation. Look at rising mistrust of government. Look at approval numbers for Congress that hover between the teens and the single digits.
Maybe we’d trust out government more, maybe we wouldn’t be so continually disappointed in and disgusted with politics, if our government just did less.
Tags: big government, democrats, republicans
