The 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address has given rise to plenty of conjecture about how it might play in modern times. We've already speculated about how modern media might cover the speech -- now, an online YouGov poll finds Americans think President Abraham Lincoln's partisan affiliation also might be somewhat different if he was alive today.
Just 23 percent of Americans say that Lincoln would be a Republican today, while 32 percent think he would be a Democrat and 19 percent say he'd be an independent. In a separate question, 23 percent said he'd be a tea party member.
Majorities in both parties tried to claim Lincoln for themselves -- 62 percent of Democrats said he'd be one of them, while 55 percent of Republicans predicted he would remain in the GOP.
Disagreements over the Civil War also continue. Opinions were almost evenly split about whether the war was more about slavery or states' rights, with a clear partisan divide: Democrats said "slavery" by a 54 percent to 30 percent margin, while Republicans said "states' rights," 56 percent to 34 percent.
The poll also found that some Americans could use a quick history primer. While 70 percent could correctly identify the opening words of Lincoln's speech, only 58 percent of those polled knew he was a Republican. Twelve percent incorrectly identified him as a Democrat, while 8 percent mistakenly thought he was a Whig or Federalist, and 23 percent were unsure.
The HuffPost/YouGov poll was conducted Nov. 13-14 among 2,000 U.S. adults using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.
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