Political independents nearing 50% of voters
That graph is from Gallup.
In nine states registered independents are the dominant party.
In about half the states that register voters by party, independent voters outnumber at least one of the two major political parties. But here are 9 states where independents not only outnumber registered Republicans AND Democrats
You would think that this overwhelming number of voters would cause politicians to pander, or at least respect independents.
It doesn't.
In California, independents outnumber Republicans. Yet independents are systematically disenfranchised.
Check out how independents are dismissed by the MSM.
After doing some searches it occurred to me that all the articles that dismissed independents come from the Democratic-leaning press.
The same press that dismisses progressive voters and causes, and the same political party that tells it's base to give up on achieving progressive policies.
The most patronizing example I could find was in Vox.
We conducted more than a dozen experiments and surveys across the country and came to the following conclusion. To put it plainly:People think that being independent is cool.
...
Myth 4: The rise of independents could give way to a third party
...
Myth 5: Independents decide elections...If Americans are merely hiding their party preferences beneath the label "independent," it is unlikely that they are open to being swayed by the party with the most convincing agenda.
This comes from the same group think that has decided that anyone who votes for a Green Party candidate is a "spoiler" because Democrats are entitled to those votes, even if they have no intention of representing those voters.
Comments
How Dems really feel about you
Or this Politico article from 2016.
Meanwhile Dkos is going away
Can't really read the
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
Considering that the internet keeps growing
any significant decline in traffic is very bad.
The drop in ranking, from 1,100 to 5,100 is a good indicator.
Heh "political misfits"
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
Re:
Finally, someone understands me!
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." --Noam Chomsky
I would draw a distinction
between "not into politics" and "disgusted by Potempkin democracy".
It's true that "independent" does not equate to "persuadable swing voter", which was the prevalent theory in the 90s. If those voters ever existed, they've chosen up sides long ago. They fail to register with a party because the parties fail to appeal to them, but that doesn't mean that the other team has a shot.
The underlying assumption of the progressive movement is that rather than "not into politics", independents (and non-registered voters) can be enticed into participating by offering non-corrupt (no PACs and corporate money) candidates with well thought out policy positions.
The underlying assumption of the fascist movement is that you can build support by offering candidates who clearly hate the people they hate. Looks like they're a little ahead of us.
EDIT: I continue to be amazed that anyone knows we're here.
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
In NY 24
Tens of thousands are registered to the Independence Party because they're too stupid to realize you leave party affiliation blank if you want to be unaffiliated...
For example, in 2016 Onondaga County had: 112,045 Democrats, 86,850 Republicans, 5,174 Conservatives, 1,090 Greens, 1,475 Working Families Party, 15,799 Independence Party, 25 Womens Equality Party, 12 Reform Party, 298 Other, and 78,027 unaffiliated...The Onondaga County Legislature has been controlled by a Republican super majority for years. There has never been a Democratic County Executive (there have only been 4, it was created in the 1960s for Republican John Mulroy. Tried multiple times for corruption, convicted of misdemeanors and fined.) All of the towns in the county are controlled by Rs too.
465,837 Independence Party members versus 2,428,007 people who figured it out statewide. Only 2,651,418 Republicans versus 5,664,922 Democrats. And Trump still won almost all of the Upstate Counties. Those 25,895 Green Party members must have swayed the vote...
" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "
This isn't a bad thing...
These are the reasons I joined DK in 2005. I thought that Bush was the worst thing that happened to the country and I was more outraged each day about the things he was doing and thought that all we needed to do was survive his presidency and then things would go back to normal. But then I also thought that Bush couldn't get away with the things he was doing and the democrats would finally rein him in. And then that he'd be charged when Obama became president. Ahh the days of being young and naive huh?
Yup. We have one party and it's the oligarchs' party. Watching how the DNC rigged the primary against Bernie in broad daylight and even admitted to doing it and then seeing people say that they didn't just makes my head spin. lol..they can't see how they put their thumb on the scale for Hillary, but they totally believe that a few ads swung the election. Or stole it. SMDH.
Putin isn’t going to make you homeless or kill you or deny you health care.
Your government will allow it to happen though.
I also joined dk in 2005 for similar reasons
The resistance of that time period was really no different than the current so-called resistance to Trump--just democratic party hacks who gladly adopt right wing views to attack Trump. Rachael Maddow and others who became known during that period are now some of the most promienent apologists for the establishment democrats. Maddow and others did not sell out--they just become more famous with better pay doing the same. Pundits like Greenwald who kept their values and applied the same standard to Obama were attacked and became the enemy of all democrats. (same with people on this site)
Well said
The same people who were against everything Bush did are once again against those things now that Trump is president. With some exceptions. Imagine what they would have said if Obama wanted to be nice to Russia and make peace with North Korea? Or pull the troops out of Afghanistan and Syria?
This is what makes that place so insane. They don't really support policies, they do or do not support the person in office no matter what they do. Libya should have gotten the anti war band back together because it was done on false pretenses just like Iraq, but because it was Hillary's baby and Obama backed her it was a great idea.
What's really funny is how none of them are calling out the democrats for voting with republicans on Trump's legislation. They only blame the GOP for what's happening to the country without seeing that democrats are fully on board with them.
Putin isn’t going to make you homeless or kill you or deny you health care.
Your government will allow it to happen though.
Blood in the water
Or the democratic clown car. Heh..this is an excellent take down of the democratic debates and there are too many parts to excerpt. Just read it.
Not talking about hand sizes was the highlight of the debate? Okie Dokie..
Putin isn’t going to make you homeless or kill you or deny you health care.
Your government will allow it to happen though.
"At least nobody ended up in the emergency room"
That's a pretty low bar, isn't it?
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
So is “better than Trump”
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
Pretty low indeed
Not talking about hand sizes or anything of importance during the debates. I don't know how long they went on, but the article says that people only got to speak for about 7-10 minutes. Maybe longer, but still the way it was setup where people could only talk for a minute and then have a 30 second follow up is just damn silly. Back when the debates were run seriously the candidates got to speak as long as they needed to answer the questions and then the other guy got to respond.
It's just theatrical BS the way they are now days. People know that, but they still tune in to watch them.
Putin isn’t going to make you homeless or kill you or deny you health care.
Your government will allow it to happen though.
Another key point
Gallup has been conducting this poll (at least monthly) since January of 2004.
The all-time high for self Identified Independents was 47% - most recently in the Sep 4-7 2014 poll and previously in the Oct 3-6 2013 poll.
The all-time low for self-identified Independents was 27% - most recently in the Feb 25-27 2005 poll and a few other times before that.
Independents are at 46% now, so they're one point away from their all-time high.
Here's the other key point to take into consideration:
The all-time high for self-identified Democrats was 40% in the Feb 11-14 2008 poll and is the only time the percentage of self-identified Democrats was this high.
The all-time low for self-identified Democrats was 25% in the Jan 4-8 2017 poll and is the only time the percentage of self-identified Democrats was this low.
Dems are at 27% right now, so that's only two points away from their all-time low.