I think the "I was an x but now am a y" tactic is an old and overused ruse. A few of these may be authentic, but I doubt that most are. I don't think anyone is being paid to post, but certainly people are doing so out of partisanship. There are plenty of Democrats left in the forum. Just read the Bernie v. Hillary threads.

Jeff, there are a lot of posters claiming to be democrats but now are republican. Then the barrage of angry, hateful language against Democratic candidates starts. I know you don't track but do you think some of these threads are started by someone on a political payroll to castigate to possibly change minds?

Of course, I've seen likewise from Democrat posters but not nearly the volume that I see 'I am a Dem but now voting Repub.'

Based on the number of 'I used to be Dem but voting Repub' threads or similar, it seems like there are very few Democrats left.