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May 21, 2009
Permanent majority?
WASHINGTON – Barack Obama's presidency has ushered in an era of centrism, with the country experiencing such a boost in independent voters that they now make up the largest proportion of the electorate in 70 years...."There's certainly a lot of bad news for Republicans and better news, if not good news, for Democrats," said Andrew Kohut, director of the nonpartisan center that conducted the survey. He said both sides should take particular note of this finding: "Independents are very much the trump card these days and their views are not all one way."
...This group hews more closely to Democrats than Republicans on social values, religion and national security. But it also is more conservative on several key issues including the economy, partly because of steady defections from the GOP, and more skeptical than two years ago of expanding government assistance, a typically Republican position. More in line with Democratic thinking, most independents support expanded government intervention and regulation in the private sector, albeit reluctantly.
...For its part, the GOP is in its weakest position in two decades of Pew polling; it's smaller, older and heavily white, though not more conservative even as the number of people who identify themselves as Republicans has declined precipitously. Also, Republicans are increasingly critical of their party, with only a quarter saying the GOP is doing an excellent or good job of standing up for its longtime core principles of lower taxes, smaller government and conservative social values.
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