Pew Poll: republicans-older, whiter more conservative; Democrats-more liberal than ever and diverse
Over the past decade, the Republican Party has come to be dominated by conservatives, while liberals make up an increasing share of Democrats. In surveys conducted this year, 68% of Republicans describe themselves as politically conservative. That is little changed from 2008, but is higher than in 2004 (63%) or 2000 (60%).
Demographically, Republicans remain overwhelmingly white and their average age now approaches 50. Fully 87% of Republicans are non-Hispanic whites, a figure which has changed little since 2000.
Meanwhile, the percentage of Democrats who say their political views are liberal has risen from 28% in 2000 to 34% in 2008 and 38% in 2012 surveys by the Pew Research Center. For the first time, there are as many liberal Democrats as moderate Democrats.
In contrast to Republicans, Democrats have grown increasingly diverse. A narrow majority of Democrats (55%) are non-Hispanic whites, down from 64% in 2000. As in recent years, most Democrats are women (59%). And while the average age of self-described Democrats has risen since 2008 – from 46.9 to 47.7 – Democrats continue to be younger than Republicans on average (47.7 vs. 49.7).
http://www.people-press.org/2012/06/04/partisan-polarization-surges-in-bush-obama-years/
None of this is particularly surprising but nice to see it confirmed like this. Republicans are increasingly dominated by old, white conservatives while Democrats are increasingly liberal and racially and ethnically diverse.
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...We are STILL paying the price for Michael Dukakis' stupidity. I will never, ever forgive him for that shitty campaign he ran. He thought he'd ignore the attacks and "leave it up to the decency of the American people."
IMBECILE.
Bernie Shaw gave him such an opportunity with that debate question...he could have easily said, "Who wrote that question for you, George Bush? Bernie, either turn around and apologize to my wife right now for letting that filth come out of your mouth, or this debate is over!"
Would you prefer to have Romney, Boehner, Angle, and West instead?The answer is "no," obviously, but playing this card shows that you have no arguments left for trying to get us to vote for your candidates, and have to resort to the fear card to get us to vote against the Republicans.
None of us want Romney. That's why we're voting to re-elect Obama. That's why we're working for Democratic House candidates and Senators. Even when we look at what we got the last time the Democrats controlled both houses and the White House (i.e.: hippie punching, "pragmatism," and "bipartisanship"
we're still doing our best to bring that about again.
But sooner or later there is going to be a breaking point. I'd almost say that it already happened in 2010, since so many liberal Democrats got disillusioned and stayed home which helped put the GOP back in control. The real question is, who learned a lesson from that? Apparently not the Blue Dogs, because they're still badgering us to imagine how much worse things are with the Republicans in control when it should have been them learning not to piss off the liberals because they need us to get Democrats elected.
At some point the liberals are going to get tired of being ignored at best and smacked down at worst. At some point the Blue Dogs who are in charge are going to fracture the coalition our party's had since the 1960's beyond repair.
I'll vote for Obama. I'll work for the Blue Dog my local Democratic Committee wants to run against our GOP Congressman. I'll work and vote for my Senator even though he only rates 54% on liberal causes. But at some point we're all going to get sick and tired of not having a real voice in our party and then we'll all be stuck with a situation we don't really want.
...politics is often about choosing the lesser of two evils. Furthermore, you have to give the blue dogs a break. No LIBERAL Democrat can get elected from a rural southern district--period. Ain't gonna happen.
The Democrats are FAR CLOSER to our beliefs than the alternative, and given how extreme our enemies have become, this isn't just about winning elections.....it's about saving our country and all the progress we have made over the past 150-some years. I'd rather drop dead than sit back and allow that to happen.
...like Co-chair Raul Grijalva. 
