Poll: Half of Americans Say the Parties Do Not Represent the People

Some interesting numbers from Rasmussen:
Voters are more convinced than ever that neither major political party in Washington, DC is on their side.  Now roughly one-out-of-two Likely U.S. Voters (49%) think it’s fair to say neither party in Congress is the party of the American people, up six points from a year ago. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 32% say it’s not fair to characterize the two parties that way, while 18% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here).

A plurality (44%) of both Republicans and Democrats agree that neither party in Congress represents the people. But voters not affiliated with either of the parties are even more emphatic: 60% feel that way. 
Only 32% of voters in this survey stated that they believe the major parties represent the American people!  Predictably, the dead-enders of the ruling parties are most likely to state that their party does represent the American people, but it is noteworthy that nearly half of Democrats and Republicans also admit that neither major party does so.  An obvious question thus arises: if nearly half of Democrats and Republicans believe that neither major party represents the American people, why would they continue to support the Republican and Democratic parties?  

3 comments:

TiradeFaction said...

"An obvious question thus arises: if nearly half of Democrats and Republicans believe that neither major party represents the American people, why would they continue to support the Republican and Democratic parties?"

Me thinks this is the group that traditionally identifies with a particular party, but stays home instead of votes when they become disenchanted when their respective party betrays them (or at least their perception of betrayal).

d.eris said...

That's a good point TF. So they're potentially a significant fraction of non-voters. So the question then is: how to persuade disillusioned Democrats and Republicans to vote for alternatives rather than not voting!

TiradeFaction said...

"So the question then is: how to persuade disillusioned Democrats and Republicans to vote for alternatives rather than not voting!"

That's the million dollar question.

Keep up with your efforts on spreading the word out, I think as more people are aware of legitimately alternatives, we can begin to holistically change the voter trends in favor of more choices. That's my theory at least..

 
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