More change in the air from Rasmussen. Total number of Democrats in the country falls. Republicans gain a tiny amount, but stay essentially flat.
In December, the number of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats fell to the lowest level recorded in more than seven years of monthly tracking by Rasmussen Reports.
Currently, 35.5% of American adults view themselves as Democrats. That’s down from 36.0 a month ago and from 37.8% in October.
The number of Republicans inched up by a point in December to 34.0%. That’s the highest total for Republicans since December 2007, just before the 2008 presidential campaign season began.
However, the number of Republicans in the country is essentially no different today than it was in November 2008 when Barack Obama was elected president.
So how do you make the math work when one party is bleeding supporters but the other isn’t picking them up? Easy. More independents ditching both parties.
The change since Obama’s election is that the number of Democrats has fallen by six percentage points and the number of voters not affiliated with either major party has grown by six. The number of adults not affiliated with either party is currently at 30.6%, up from 24.7% in November 2008.
That’s a five percent increase in a little over one year. Fairly remarkable, actually. And if we are to take anything from this, it’s that the smart party leaders will be putting their betting chips more on the candidates who can win the center, not less, and those who play hard to the base will have an even rougher time. Look for the GOP to try to shy away from the Santorums and Palins of the world and the Dems to veer away from the Kucinich Pelosi school of thought. This obviously doesn’t mean we’re ready for a legitimate third party to rise up and grab the reigns, but you’re not going to win the next couple election cycles running to your base. The question is, will the primary voters realize this or back a hard core partisan who is destined to lose?
UPDATE: Ed Morrissey notes that the Democrats have declared war on Rasmussen, apparently because… ummm… they don’t like bad news I guess.