Record-High 42% of Americans Identify as Independents

[UpstateSCHokie]

Coincidentally, I finally received a call from a pubic opinion survey last night. They asked if I was a registered democrat or republican. I told them that we don't register in SC. Then they asked me if I identified myself as a democrat, a republican, or an independent. I told them independent.

Then they asked me the following questions:

Do you support any type of new gun control laws? I said absolutely not.

Do you think abortion should be illegal except in cases where the mother's life is in danger? I said yes (although I could also make the exception for rape in the 1st trimester).

Would you support increasing taxes for any reason? I said absolutely not.

Do you think the government should reduce its spending? I said of course it should.

Do you think the government should extend unemployment benefits? Nope, 99 weeks is more than enough.

So that's how this independent responded to those questions. I there's a ton of tea party people out there like me that are more and more identifying themselves as independents because the GOP establishment does not really agree with or represent our views. There's really only a handful of politicians in DC that, and happen to be Republicans.

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http://www.gallup.com/poll/166763/recor ... ?ref=image

[VisorBoy]

Coincidentally, I finally received a call from a pubic opinion survey last night. They asked if I was a registered democrat or republican. I told them that we don't register in SC. Then they asked me if I identified myself as a democrat, a republican, or an independent. I told them independent.

Then they asked me the following questions:

Do you support any type of new gun control laws? I said absolutely not.

Do you think abortion should be illegal except in cases where the mother's life is in danger? I said yes (although I could also make the exception for rape in the 1st trimester).

Would you support increasing taxes for any reason? I said absolutely not.

Do you think the government should reduce its spending? I said of course it should.

Do you think the government should extend unemployment benefits? Nope, 99 weeks is more than enough.

So that's how this independent responded to those questions. I there's a ton of tea party people out there like me that are more and more identifying themselves as independents because the GOP establishment does not really agree with or represent our views. There's really only a handful of politicians in DC that, and happen to be Republicans.

==================

http://www.gallup.com/poll/166763/recor ... ?ref=image

I agree that the term "Independent" is evolving (see, sometimes terms DO evolve?!). Independent now has quite a large quantity of conservatives in it. That's why when I see poll results that say "50% of Independents hate Obamacare", that doesn't actually surprise me. I'm more interested in what Moderates and Centrists think.

[133743Hokie]

Coincidentally, I finally received a call from a pubic opinion survey last night. They asked if I was a registered democrat or republican. I told them that we don't register in SC. Then they asked me if I identified myself as a democrat, a republican, or an independent. I told them independent.

Then they asked me the following questions:

Do you support any type of new gun control laws? I said absolutely not.

Do you think abortion should be illegal except in cases where the mother's life is in danger? I said yes (although I could also make the exception for rape in the 1st trimester).

Would you support increasing taxes for any reason? I said absolutely not.

Do you think the government should reduce its spending? I said of course it should.

Do you think the government should extend unemployment benefits? Nope, 99 weeks is more than enough.

So that's how this independent responded to those questions. I there's a ton of tea party people out there like me that are more and more identifying themselves as independents because the GOP establishment does not really agree with or represent our views. There's really only a handful of politicians in DC that, and happen to be Republicans.

==================

http://www.gallup.com/poll/166763/recor ... ?ref=image

Dissatisfaction with action/inaction (take your pick) of both parties is moving people towards independent status by default. The majority of Americans are issue driven. It may be one issue, it may be multiple issues, but it is about those things that impact their small sphere.

[awesome guy]

Coincidentally, I finally received a call from a pubic opinion survey last night. They asked if I was a registered democrat or republican. I told them that we don't register in SC. Then they asked me if I identified myself as a democrat, a republican, or an independent. I told them independent.

Then they asked me the following questions:

Do you support any type of new gun control laws? I said absolutely not.

Do you think abortion should be illegal except in cases where the mother's life is in danger? I said yes (although I could also make the exception for rape in the 1st trimester).

Would you support increasing taxes for any reason? I said absolutely not.

Do you think the government should reduce its spending? I said of course it should.

Do you think the government should extend unemployment benefits? Nope, 99 weeks is more than enough.

So that's how this independent responded to those questions. I there's a ton of tea party people out there like me that are more and more identifying themselves as independents because the GOP establishment does not really agree with or represent our views. There's really only a handful of politicians in DC that, and happen to be Republicans.

==================

http://www.gallup.com/poll/166763/recor ... ?ref=image

I agree that the term "Independent" is evolving (see, sometimes terms DO evolve?!). Independent now has quite a large quantity of conservatives in it. That's why when I see poll results that say "50% of Independents hate Obamacare", that doesn't actually surprise me. I'm more interested in what Moderates and Centrists think.

Why would the opinion of "moderates" matter? Take the average of the liberal and conservatives to derive. It's just where they fall politically, it doesn't mean they're more reasonable. Most of the time, they're the least informed and least intelligent of the political landscape.

[HokieFanDC]

Coincidentally, I finally received a call from a pubic opinion survey last night. They asked if I was a registered democrat or republican. I told them that we don't register in SC. Then they asked me if I identified myself as a democrat, a republican, or an independent. I told them independent.

Then they asked me the following questions:

Do you support any type of new gun control laws? I said absolutely not.

Do you think abortion should be illegal except in cases where the mother's life is in danger? I said yes (although I could also make the exception for rape in the 1st trimester).

Would you support increasing taxes for any reason? I said absolutely not.

Do you think the government should reduce its spending? I said of course it should.

Do you think the government should extend unemployment benefits? Nope, 99 weeks is more than enough.

So that's how this independent responded to those questions. I there's a ton of tea party people out there like me that are more and more identifying themselves as independents because the GOP establishment does not really agree with or represent our views. There's really only a handful of politicians in DC that, and happen to be Republicans.

==================

http://www.gallup.com/poll/166763/recor ... ?ref=image

I agree that the term "Independent" is evolving (see, sometimes terms DO evolve?!). Independent now has quite a large quantity of conservatives in it. That's why when I see poll results that say "50% of Independents hate Obamacare", that doesn't actually surprise me. I'm more interested in what Moderates and Centrists think.

The increase in independents has largely been fiscally conservative people who are tired of the big govt, liberal GOP of the past 40 years, and their political ploy of using social issues to drive votes and try to get their base to ignore their fiscal liberalism. Now, we've got a group of conservatives who seem more focused on the fiscal issues, and are trending independent b/c they don't have a fiscally conservative party to turn to. It remains to be seen if they torpedo their efforts by doggedly sticking to losing social issues.

[USN_Hokie]

Coincidentally, I finally received a call from a pubic opinion survey last night. They asked if I was a registered democrat or republican. I told them that we don't register in SC. Then they asked me if I identified myself as a democrat, a republican, or an independent. I told them independent.

Then they asked me the following questions:

Do you support any type of new gun control laws? I said absolutely not.

Do you think abortion should be illegal except in cases where the mother's life is in danger? I said yes (although I could also make the exception for rape in the 1st trimester).

Would you support increasing taxes for any reason? I said absolutely not.

Do you think the government should reduce its spending? I said of course it should.

Do you think the government should extend unemployment benefits? Nope, 99 weeks is more than enough.

So that's how this independent responded to those questions. I there's a ton of tea party people out there like me that are more and more identifying themselves as independents because the GOP establishment does not really agree with or represent our views. There's really only a handful of politicians in DC that, and happen to be Republicans.

==================

http://www.gallup.com/poll/166763/recor ... ?ref=image

I agree that the term "Independent" is evolving (see, sometimes terms DO evolve?!). Independent now has quite a large quantity of conservatives in it. That's why when I see poll results that say "50% of Independents hate Obamacare", that doesn't actually surprise me. I'm more interested in what Moderates and Centrists think.

Why would the opinion of "moderates" matter? Take the average of the liberal and conservatives to derive. It's just where they fall politically, it doesn't mean they're more reasonable. Most of the time, they're the least informed and least intelligent of the political landscape.

I was about to post the same thing. "moderate / centrist" = low information voter. They're the people who stand for nothing. They're the folks who might say that they agree with "x", but can be persuaded to vote for a candidate who agrees with "y" if he has a nicer haircut, or they see an SNL skit making fun of the other candidate.