A 165 page Pew Survey on party affiliation has brought bad news to both Republicans and Democrats.The poll shows a huge increase in the number of people who identify themselves as "independents" while those saying they are Republicans or Democrats fell dramatically.John P. Avalon reports for the Wall Street Journal: This is evidence that President Obama's election does not represent a liberal ideological mandate, as House Democrats have claimed. It also shows continued rejection of the Republican brand. On virtually every policy issue, independents are situated between increasingly polarized Democrats and Republicans. They more accurately reflect centrist national attitudes than the 11% of Americans who describe themselves as liberal Democrats or the 15% who call themselves conservative Republicans. Independents are nonideological problem-solvers, but they do not have a split-the-difference approach to politics. They are fiscally conservative but socially progressive, with a...(Read Full Post)