This story was originally published on nationaljournal.com on June 2, 2016. As a general rule, partisans stick together. The national exit polls conducted in 2012 showed that President Obama received 92 percent of the vote of self-described Democrats, and the same percentage of Democrats supported their party’s House candidates. Four years earlier, Obama won 89 percent of the Democratic vote, exactly the same percentage that Al Gore received in 2000. Bill Clinton pulled 84 percent of the Democratic vote in his reelection fight with Bob Dole in 1996. Republicans see very similar rates of allegiance from their party members. Mitt Romney won 93 percent of the vote of self-described Republicans in 2012, and GOP congressional candidates attracted 94 percent. In 2008, John McCain pulled 90 percent of the GOP vote, and four years earlier George W. Bush won 93 percent, up 3 percentage points from 2000. Only Bob Dole in 1996 couldn’t lock up the party faithful, winning only 80 percent of the GOP vote. Pollsters customarily ask respondents whether they consider themselves Democrats, Republicans, or independents, usually rotating that
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