Americans’ views of politics and elected officials are unrelentingly negative, with little hope of improvement on the horizon. 65% of Americans say they always or often feel exhausted when thinking about politics. By contrast, just 10% say they always or often feel hopeful about politics.
Pew Research Center’s political typology provides a roadmap to today’s fractured political landscape. It organizes the public into nine distinct groups, based on an analysis of their attitudes and values. Even in a polarized era, the 2021 survey reveals deep divisions in both partisan coalitions.
Increasingly, Republicans and Democrats view not just the opposing party but also the people in that party in a negative light. Growing shares in each party now describe those in the other party as more closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent than other Americans. Nearly half of younger adults say they “wish there were more parties to choose from.”
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Ahead of the presidential election, the demographic profiles of the Republican and Democratic parties are strikingly different.
All Pew Research Center surveys about U.S. politics and policy include questions about partisan affiliation. In 2016, from January through August, a total of 8,113 registered voters were asked the following: In politics TODAY, do you consider yourself a Republican, Democrat, or independent? (IF INDEPENDENT, OTHER, DON’T KNOW): As of today do you lean more […]
Six-in-ten (59%) Americans say “too many people are easily offended these days over the language that others use.” Fewer (39%) think “people need to be more careful about the language they use to avoid offending people with different backgrounds.”
Survey Report Over the past decade, there has been a pronounced age gap in American politics. Younger Americans have been the Democratic Party’s strongest supporters in both vote preferences and partisanship, while older Americans have been the most reliably Republican. The Pew Research Center’s report earlier this month on partisan identification found that 51% of […]
By several measures, conservative Republicans – and conservatives more generally – are more politically active than most other segments of the population.
39% of Americans identify as independents, more than they do as Democrats ( 32%) or as Republicans (23%). This is the highest percentage of independents in more than 75 years of public opinion polling.
All Pew Research Center surveys about U.S. politics and policy include questions about partisan affiliation. In 2014 a total of 25,010 respondents were asked the following: In politics TODAY, do you consider yourself a Republican, Democrat, or independent? (IF INDEPENDENT, OTHER, DON’T KNOW): As of today do you lean more to the Republican Party or […]
One of the strongest reactions we have received from some quiz-takers is frustration over the either-or choices each question offers. This is a legitimate concern, but there is a reason the questions are asked the way they are: The intent is not to put people “in a box” but rather to understand how their values across multiple political dimensions are related to each other.
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