Erik,

I must apologize for giving the impression that I thought you were off base. Your grasp of American politics would put you in the top quintile of Americans. If I were questioned on Swedish politics my answers would be labeled “non-responsive”. My suggestion that you dig into the Pew Research Institute was premised upon my understanding of your current level of knowledge. From the point where I presume you to be the next step is to look at the aggregated data available and begin to draw your own conclusions.

Why depend on a professors presumption or conclusion when you can create and defend your own? I mentioned electorate because it has several different meanings. It can mean “those eligible to vote” or “those registered to vote” or “those likely to vote”. Each of those groups will break down statistically in different manners. So your observations concerning party affiliation may or may not be correct dependent upon which group of the “electorate” you are referring to. Also note that there are many people eligible to vote that consider themselves to be affiliated with one or the other party but have never voted.

I appreciate your comments here and I’m willing to discuss any aspect of American politics that you find puzzling – as long as I have some competence in the area.