Independents more conservative

Our polls have pretty universally shown Barack Obama's approval rating dropping with independents lately, but when you take a look at who those voters are it seems almost inevitable.

Our most recent national poll showed that among independents 37% describe themselves as conservatives with just 11% defining themselves as liberals. An average of our last eight state polls finds 33% conservatives and 7% liberals. Nationally 52% are moderates and our state level average is 60%.

There have always been more conservatives than liberals within the independent ranks, but recent drops in Republican identification have likely widened the gap.

That means the independent ranks as currently constituted are more inclined to support GOP positions and candidates, although they obviously have some differences with the party line or they would probably still be in the party. This doesn't mean there's been no decline for Obama with moderate independents, but it does help to explain the weaker numbers for him with that group and why there's more of a propensity for his numbers to drop with them.

Here are the state by state numbers for independents by ideology for the last eight places we've polled:

State	Liberals	Moderates	Conservatives
North Carolina	7	69	25
Minnesota	9	60	31
Virginia	5	61	35
New Jersey	9	71	20
Ohio	4	73	23
Wisconsin	10	56	35
Alabama	8	52	40
West Virginia	10	43	47