More than half of the voters in Utah were highly concerned about partisan politics in the most recent survey by the non-profit Utah Foundation. The survey also found that unaffiliated and third party voters were a close second in size to Republican voters. Mallory Bateman is a research analyst with Utah Foundation. She says they were surprised that such a high percentage of that group are so concerned about partisan politics.
“Over half, so 58%, gave it a 4 or a 5 which is a high level of concern. And so we just thought that was interesting since they do make up such a large part of the electorate.”
Bateman says while it’s not surprising to find Republicans and Democrats dissatisfied with the other’s policies, nearly one fourth of all Utah voters felt the two main parties are so misguided, there’s a threat to the nation’s well-being.
“When you have a quarter of Republicans thinking both parties are so misguided, you’ve got 13% of Democrats thinking the same and a quarter of all the other voters in the state thinking that," say Bateman, "I think it does speak to kind of the system we have now is maybe not working for everybody.”
She says the survey was done in February so it’s likely all groups are even more divided now that the major party nominating conventions have begun. Partisan politics ranked #8 in 10 of the Utah Priorities Projectsurvey in issues of main concern to Utahns.
