GOP Brand Woes Continue
The latest Gallup polling on party identification provides more evidence that a few months of Democrats in Congress hasn't solved the Republican brand woes.
Gallup says: "During the first quarter of 2007, an average of 33% of Americans identified as Democrats, 28% as Republicans, and 38% as independents. Several things are notable about these numbers. -- First, 28% is the lowest percentage of self-identified Republicans in any quarter since the second quarter of 1999."
Caveats: The GOP has suffered. But the Democratic brand has not correspondingly improved. In fact: "Despite its advantage over the Republicans, the percentage of Americans identifying with the Democratic Party actually
went down this past quarter. After averaging 35% in each of the last three quarters of 2006, Democratic identification is now similar to what it was at the beginning of 2006."
There's an academic debate about the fluidity of party ID, but we haven't seen any polling that would suggest that more Americans are identifying as Democrats. We've seen polling to suggest that fewer Americans are comfortable telling call-takers they are Republicans.
Finally: "The consequent rise in independent identification from 35% in the final quarter of 2006 to 38% now, pushed that percentage to the highest level it has been since the last quarter of 1999, when 38% also identified as independents."