Identifying as a Democrat is becoming more of a peculiarity each day that passes.  Latest Gallup polling shows that the number of Americans who self-identify as conservatives is literally double the amount of those who call themselves a liberal.  Now I realize that not all liberals are Democrats, but for the purposes of the 2012 election, we can safely assume that most liberals will be sympathetic to Barack Obama’s cause.

From what we can tell, the Democrats who voted Obama into office in 2008 are pretty much the same as those who will vote for him in 2012.  There are, however, a few differences … from Gallup:

1. Perhaps the most significant change in the composition of Democrats between 2008 and today is the two-point increase, from 35% to 37%, in the percentage describing their political views as "liberal." This occurred at a time when the country as a whole became slightly more conservative, thus expanding the political gap between Democrats and the rest of the U.S.

2. The proportion of Democrats who identify their race as black grew by three percentage points, from 16% to 19%, over the last three years, while the proportion that is white (non-Hispanic) fell by three points, from 66% to 63%.

3. Democrats remain less likely to attend church weekly and more likely to seldom or never attend church than the national average.

4. The proportion of Democrats who are Catholic or who identify with a non-Christian religion declined slightly between 2008 and 2011, while the percentage not identifying with any faith increased by four percentage points.

5. The percentage of the total national adult sample and the sample of Democrats in the 18 to 29 age group has increased slightly over the last three years. Young adults continue to make up a slightly greater proportion of the Democratic base than of the overall population.

6. Democrats are significantly less likely than the U.S. population as a whole to be married, as was true in 2008.

7. Democrats are now slightly more likely than the national population to be college educated, although the differences are not large.

As I pointed out just yesterday, if you were to read “Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation” by Joseph Ellis, you would learn that “democrat” referred to “one who panders to the crude and mindless whims of the masses.”  As it was then, so it is now.