The Democrats lost the "independent" vote

[itsrobert]

You know the embarrassed republicans who now claim to be "independent" but vote republican anyhow. More republicans are claiming to be independent. Is it really a surprise the independents (embarrassed former republicans) went for the Republicans?

[JVS]

1. Ah yes, the fucking Liberpublicans.

[icnorth]

2. They're easy to pick out really,

although you can't tell by looking at them because of the paper bags they wear over their heads; as soon as they open their mouth it becomes quite apparent.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. not quit true.

Indies will still avoid conservadems, and religious maniacs and Palinesque GOPers. The reason that Va and NJ went red was because the choice in Va was hideous. Between bad and worse, the thing they did was not to vote. As for Corzine, I am surprised he did as well as he did, coming in second in a two man race.

[placton]

5. by jove, I think you have it! n/t

[stray cat]

4. And when dems lose independents - they lose elections, power and any say in anything

[DefenseLawyer]

6. It's more about turnout in these off year elections

It's usually not so much that we "lost" these voters to the Republicans as much as it is that the vast majority of Independents are just not motivated to vote. The pool is smaller, therefore the motivated minority can become the majority of actual voters. If you look at the number of people that identify themselves as Republicans the numbers are abysmal.

[conscious evolution]

7. An Independant won my districts state Rep race

Culver Kidd is more of a democrat then the Dem that ran.
The puke candidate lost badly.
This is in central rural Georgia,btw.Anyone who says Progressive candidates can never win in the rural south needs to rethink their position.

[TxRider]

8. Ignore it at our peril

http://www.independentnation.org/rise_of_independents.htm

This trend has especially been on the increase since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, and continued to grow with the anti-Clinton fervor of the 1994 Newt Gingrich–led Republican Revolution. As columnist George Will has written: "Some ideologically intoxicated Republicans think Democrats are not merely mistaken but sinful . . . Some Democrats, having lost their ideological confidence, substitute character assassination for political purpose."

This polarization has been cemented by redistricting—creating safe congressional seats for incumbents to occupy without the built-in check and balance of a credible opposition candidate. Currently, 90 percent of congressional seats are considered "safe." Once upon a time in America, people chose their congressmen; now congressmen choose their people.

As Congress has grown more partisan, however, the electorate has grown steadily more Centrist, with the number of self-identified moderates rising from a bare plurality of 36 percent in 1980 to 50 percent in 1998 and 2000. At the same time, the number of Americans who are reluctant to identify themselves completely with either political party has been steadily rising.

In the mid twentieth century, party identification was a badge of honor. According to the National Election Studies program at the University of Michigan, fifty years ago 47 percent of voters identified with the Democrats and 28 percent with the Republicans, while just 23 percent were independents. In the year 2000, however, those numbers were almost reversed, with 40 percent of American voters describing themselves as independents, 34 percent as Democrats, and 24 percent as Republicans.

Twenty-three percent of Americans agreed that "the two-party system works fairly well," while another study found that only 14 percent of the electorate said they always supported the candidates of a single party. This willingness to vote for candidates from different parties is another indication of independence and the corresponding inclination toward Centrism. It amounts to a civil statement of discontent with the two dominant choices and their divisive approach to common problems. Centrism is civility.

Not coincidentally, as our professional politicians have become more partisan, Americans have reacted by voting in a new era of divided government, balancing the power of the president with a Congress from the opposite party for all but six years since 1980. The object of these voting patterns is not a wish for gridlock, but pursuit of the implicit assurance that extremists in one party will not be able to hijack the national legislative agenda. Likewise, there is a presumption that with a balanced government the best ideas from both parties will be the only legislation able to be passed. It is an instinctive extension of the constitutional principle of checks and balances, an attempt to moderate excesses in an excessively partisan era.

The steadily growing ranks of independent voters constitute a quiet revolution, and it is growing: This independent plurality becomes even more pronounced when you look at the politics of younger Americans. Again, fully 44 percent of those aged eighteen to twenty-nine identify themselves as Independents. Demographics are destiny.