(CNSNews.com) – More self-identified Independents are labeling themselves as “conservative” in 2009 than at any time during the past decade, the Gallup organization found in a recently released study.

In fact, the percentage of American Independents who identified as conservatives – 35 percent – increased at the fastest rate in 10 years between 2008 and 2009, the latter Obama’s first year in office.

“The rather abrupt three-point increase between 2008 and 2009 in the percentage of Americans calling themselves conservative is largely owing to an increase – from 30 percent to 35 percent – in the percentage of political independents adopting the label...