The rift in our nation right now is deep. Not breaking news. But for the first time ever, a new poll shows that half of Americans refuse to identify with either political party, and the same Gallup poll showed that 62% are now in favor of a new third party.
Cal Jillson, professor at SMU shared his thoughts with KTRH. "Right now the two parties are at their extremes, with half of the country in the middle."
The poll shows that about 25% claimed to be Republicans, and also 25% said they were Democrats. But the fact that half of Americans don't want to identify with either party, is telling.
Jillson says politicians and leaders are aware of the public sentiment that is out there but, "but they treat that as a management issue. They want to lock in their base."
And so could their be enough of a base for a new political party? Jillson doesn't think so. "62% is a remarkable number. Those Americans think that the two parties are not giving them what they want, and they want to see another option."
Jillson also says there has been discussion of a parliamentary system such as they have in Canada, Great Britain, and much of Europe. But our system here in the U.S. is built for two parties.
Either way, this political divide is not what our founding father's had in mind. Jillson says, "there are pluses and minuses to political parties, it's just that this polling shows that more Americans than ever see the minuses, and wonder if the pluses still exist?"