Senior Morning Consult reporter Joanna Piacenza said on Friday that there are not as many independent voters as there have been in past years, citing a Pew Research Center study.
“I know Pew has this great research that shows the polarization of our politics,” Piacenza told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.”
“So basically, there isn’t a middle part. There’s no independents, or there aren’t as many as there were 10, 15, 20 years ago,” she continued.
The study, released in 2017, found that Republican-leaning independents and Democratic-leaning independents are further apart than they have been in the past on several issues including immigration, regulation, and defense.
There is an average gap of 36 percentage points between Republicans and Democrats on those issues, according to the study.
The growing polarization is evident on the campaign trail as candidates campaign ahead of November’s midterm elections.
While independents and undecided voters are highly sought after during the campaign, more and more candidates appear to be making greater efforts to appeal to and excite their own bases.
— Julia Manchester
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