{"id":131695,"date":"2016-10-01T00:34:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-01T06:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/01\/most-independents-are-independent-in-name-only.html"},"modified":"2016-10-01T00:34:39","modified_gmt":"2016-10-01T06:34:39","slug":"most-independents-are-independent-in-name-only","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/01\/most-independents-are-independent-in-name-only.html","title":{"rendered":"Most &quot;Independents&quot; are independent-in-name-only"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While a growing number of Americans eschew actually belonging to or identifying with the Republican or Democratic parties, the fact is that most of them tend to vote reliably for one of the other.<\/p>\n<p>That fits with most of the &quot;independent&quot; anecdata I have. Belonging to a political party not only opens one up to being associated with the sins of any idjit in that party, it means you get a <i>lot<\/i> more fundraising solicitations by mail and phone. Easier to call yourself an Independent and still mostly vote the single-party ticket. Hard to argue with that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"sm2wp\"><p>\n<a style='display:inline;' href='http:\/\/fivethirtyeight.com\/datalab\/americans-arent-becoming-more-politically-independent-they-just-like-saying-they-are\/'><br \/>\n<img src='https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/proxy\/tlyRZzIhEyi_shvzjO5IwipsR19yx-U30Q2kUNhLKrp1MGRp1MtzDHIWUEU83n6jM6VMsdqbQlPbhCc0eEV59wAjmHYaojBOUWHHRin9erOLbpZEXBZDwGhNV_jvPPo6qgj8XJaUB34O409756LZPD1gNLTwaw1AlY3DHZ2OIY9ZvyGFjSefBNcIqXQ=w506-h910' border='0' style='max-width:650px;'\/><br \/>\n<\/a><br \/>\n<span style='font-size:large;'><a href='http:\/\/fivethirtyeight.com\/datalab\/americans-arent-becoming-more-politically-independent-they-just-like-saying-they-are\/'>Americans Aren&rsquo;t Becoming More Politically Independent, They Just Like Saying They Are<\/a><\/span><br \/>\nGallup reported Wednesday that 43 percent of Americans identify as political independents &mdash; a record high. Thirty percent call themselves Democrats, and 26 percent call themselves Republicans&hellip;\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style='font-size:small;'><a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/+DaveHill47\/posts\/a7fVjxTDQmv'>View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While a growing number of Americans eschew actually belonging to or identifying with the Republican or Democratic parties, the fact is that most of them tend to vote reliably for one of the other. That fits with most of the &quot;independent&quot; anecdata I have. Belonging to a political party not only opens one up to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/01\/most-independents-are-independent-in-name-only.html\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Most &quot;Independents&quot; are independent-in-name-only&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40500,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/01\/08\/the-largest-political-party-is-none-of-the-above.html","url_meta":{"origin":131695,"position":0},"title":"The largest political party is &quot;None of the above&quot;","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 8-Jan-14 7:52am","format":false,"excerpt":"That's actually been the case for a while, but the trend seems to be accelerating, with Independents now at 42%, Dems at 31%, and Republicans at 25%. Most of the folks shifting over to\u00a0\"Independent\" are coming from the Republicans (the Democrats aren't doing all that hot, but have been stable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4956,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/11\/26\/must_have_been.html","url_meta":{"origin":131695,"position":1},"title":"Must have been a slow year","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 26-Nov-03 11:16am","format":false,"excerpt":"[N.B. For some reason, this post was never actually published at the time it was written.] The European Union and major newspapers across the Continent today vehemently protested as \"unhelpful,\"...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Geopolitical Brouhaha&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131878,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/25\/its-party-time-in-america.html","url_meta":{"origin":131695,"position":2},"title":"It&#039;s Party Time in America!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 25-Oct-16 8:04pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So this year we have 22 Presidential candidates on our Colorado ballot ...We have the old stand-by's that everyone talks about:DemocraticRepublicanLibertarianGreenBut we also have some other groups -- like these all-Americans:American ConstitutionAmerican DeltaAmerica's PartyVeterans of AmericaIndependent AmericanAmerican SolidarityAnd non-\"American\":Approval VotingProhibitionNon-Violent Resistance \/ PacifistIndependent PeopleNutritionAnd 3 sets of \"Unaffiliated\" candidates:UnaffiliatedUnaffiliatedUnaffiliatedNot to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/ballots-extra-stamps5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/ballots-extra-stamps5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/ballots-extra-stamps5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4117,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/02\/03\/cheaters_never.html","url_meta":{"origin":131695,"position":3},"title":"Cheaters never prosper?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 3-Feb-03 2:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a rather depressing tale. Two students submit the same paper in a class, which turns out to have been written by the same \"tutor.\" The prof flunks both students,...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ZT &amp; PC&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ZT &amp; PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11858,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/01\/18\/no_party_for_me.html","url_meta":{"origin":131695,"position":4},"title":"No party for me!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 18-Jan-08 4:21pm","format":false,"excerpt":"(NOTE:\u00a0 This has nothing to do with our party on Saturday night, for those locals who read the title and panicked.) Figures.\u00a0 First time in forevah that the presidential...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Elections 2008&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/voting-butterfly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":45324,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/09\/17\/thoughts-to-the-people-of-scotland.html","url_meta":{"origin":131695,"position":5},"title":"Thoughts to the people of Scotland","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Sep-14 11:38pm","format":false,"excerpt":"By the time I get up tomorrow, there will already be votes cast in the historic plebiscite about independence. Independence is a heady thought, and one that still runs through the thoughts and beliefs of Americans. By the same token, unity -- e pluribus unum -- is a powerful theme\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Geopolitical Brouhaha&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/indy5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/indy5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/indy5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}