Independent voters are more likely to be highly educated and male

May 8, 2012 - PRLog -- MPA Research Group http://www.mpapost.com has found that respondents who identified as Independents voters were more likely to be hold high levels of education and be male. These statistics can help us better understand the demographics of the Independent voting bloc.

Research found Independent voters were as common as identification with either of the major political parties. 30.9% of respondents identify as Independent voters, while 31.4% identify as Democratic and 27.4% identify as Republican. 10.3% of respondents identify as none of the three.

One factor correlating to identification as an Independent voter was education. A significant increase was found in occurrence of Independents between respondents whose highest education level was community college and those with Bachelor’s degrees. 25.4% of respondents identifying high school as their highest level of education, 29% of those who attended community college, 34.7% of respondents with Bachelor’s degrees and 35.4% of respondents with post-graduate degrees identify themselves as Independent voters.

When it came to gender, men are more likely than women to identify as Independents: 35.9% of men, compared to 25.2% of women.

Independent voting does not noticeably increase or decrease with age: Independent voters are most common within the 18-19 age bracket (32.9%), 30-39 cohort (32.8%), and the 40-49 year old group (33.1%). Respondents aged 20-29 are least likely to identify as Independent voters (25.5%), followed by respondents aged 60 and above (28.9%).

African Americans are the least likely ethnic group to identify as Independent voters (15.7%). All other ethnicities report a much higher proportion of Independent voters: Caucasian (32.6%), Hispanic American (29.6), Asian American (37%) and other (34.6%).

Findings are based on a poll of 3,011 participants from October 2011 to March 2012. The margin of error is 1.8% and at a 95% confidence level.