An Update on Party Identification in Texas

It’s time to update the figure on party identification in Texas. In a UT-Texas Tribune poll conducted in October 2012, respondents reported the following percentages in party identification:

As you can observe, not much has changed since the May poll, but one wouldn’t expect much change, given the purported stability in party identification. Interestingly, the percentage of strong Republicans increased slightly (by 1 percent), and the percentage of strong Democrats decreased slightly (by 2 percent); weak partisans increased in both parties (Republicans by 4 percent and Democrats by 6 percent); Republican learning independents decreased by 2 percent, and Democratic leaning independents decreased by 3 percent. The percentage of pure independents decreased by 2 percent. If we only consider the percentage of partisans and independents, there was little change in party identification in Texas: 31 percent identified as Republicans; 29 percent identified as Democrats; 37 percent identified as independents.

Perhaps the increase in weak partisans in both parties can be attributed to the fact the October poll was conducted during the general election campaign, when partisan feelings, especially in our polarized political environment, are strong.