It would be easy to conclude that American voters are now immovably committed to either Blue or Red, with margins of victory presumed to often hang on the sliver of the electorate that identifies with neither party.
But recent surveys conducted by Pew Research tell a very different story:
One-third of voters now identify as neither Democrat or Republican.
But this is not new news. Party identification has remained virtually constant for almost 3 decades, and there have always been voters who take great pride in not identifying with – much less ‘joining’ – either party.
What has changed over the same period is the share of Americans who not only decline any party identification, but who hold highly negative views of the choice afforded by only two parties.
Not surprisingly, such opinions were more widely embraced during the 2012 and 2020 presidential elections, but are at an all-time high in the run-up to the 2022 mid-terms.
More surprising, however, is the remarkable consistency with which Americans of every political stripe – by a margin of 5:1 – agree on the gravity of political divisiveness promoted by the news media, and playing out among ordinary Americans, between politicians, and in social media.
Voters are exhausted by shrill and uninterrupted partisan chest-pounding and trash-talking… of hyperbolic boasting and bashing… of political discourse devolved into snarky memes.
As the election approaches, mass school shootings and abortion bans have handed Democrats have a windfall opportunity not only to energize party regulars, but to sway Republican-leaning Independents who are terrified or outraged enough by both to break with long-standing habit.
If, that is, individual Democrats can make the distinction between demonizing the opposition party/leadership without in the process demonizing those who may not be drinking all of the MAGA Kool-Aid.
And that, in a nutshell, is what COBALT is all about: A Progressive public agenda, presented as issues and facts without the partisan toxicity.
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