2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forum"Most independents are just partisans who are turned off by partisanship."
For your reading pleasure: http://www.thenation.com/article/what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-independent-voters/
An excerpt:
While most independents vote like partisans, on average theyre slightly more likely to just stay home in November. Typically independents are less active and less engaged in politics than are strong partisans, says Smidt.
Rising polarizationand the increasingly personal and nasty nature of our politicshas had a paradoxical effect on the American electorate. On one hand, the growing distance between the two major parties has contributed to a dramatic decrease in the number of true swing voters. Smidt found that low-information voters today are as aware that there are significant differences between the two major parties as well-informed people were in the 1970s, and people who are aware of those differences tend to have more consistent views of the parties candidates. At the same time, says Smidt, many people who vote consistently for one party say theyre independents because they view partisanship as bad and see claiming allegiance to a party as socially unacceptable.
The_Casual_Observer
(27,742 posts)Stand for. Those man on the street questions on late night where your average person can name the bright thing in the sky are real.
CajunBlazer
(5,648 posts)I love "fact base" information. What is interesting is the article on independents being much more partisan than commonly believed didn't even mention the Sanders supporters who are far too liberal to be Democrats and the Tea Party people who are so conservative they no long view themselves as Republicans. Those folks may vote for a third party candidate, be they certainly aren't going to cross the aisle to vote for the opposing candidate.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)...the bottom line is that the vast majority are party loyalists. One of the most interesting things from the article is that studies show today's "independents" are actually more partisan than devout party loyalists were a few decades ago.
The myth of who independents are is one of many, many false beliefs that a good lot of DU posters subscribe to.
CajunBlazer
(5,648 posts)JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)ContinentalOp
(5,356 posts)was the fact that white millennials lean more Republican that Democratic.
CajunBlazer
(5,648 posts)They are apparently just caught up in the hype of free college and wiping out student loan debt.
But I didn't get the impression that they leaned Republican - polls show they will overwhelming support Hillary in the GE. They are just a lot more moderate than typical than the average Sanders voters.
ContinentalOp
(5,356 posts)Garrett78
(10,721 posts)CajunBlazer
(5,648 posts)The links below cite three different polls of millennials to determine their preference for Clinton or Trump in the general election. As you can see in each of the polls it's not even close. Note that in the last poll Hillary's support is broken down by demographics: "Among whites, she'd be backed by nearly 2-1, 45%-26%.
NRP article: [link:http://|Millennials Yearn For Bernie, But Prefer Clinton To Trump]]http://www.npr.org/2016/04/25/475658752/harvard-poll-millennials-yearn-for-bernie-but-prefer-clinton-to-trump
Sixty-one percent of 18-to-29 year-olds prefer that a Democrat be elected president in the fall, while 33 percent of those surveyed back a Republican. That gap of 28 percentage points has nearly doubled since a similar poll conducted last year, when the difference was just 15 percentage points with Democrats again in the majority.
Millennials dont like Donald Trump, a Harvard Institute of Politics poll released Monday shows.
Hillary Clinton crushes Trump among millennials, who would overwhelmingly support the former secretary of state over the real estate mogul in a general election. Clinton holds a 36-point advantage over Trump, 61 percent to 25 percent, with 14 percent undecided.
Poll shows that Millennials would flock to Clinton against Trump
Opposition to Trump nearly unites the rising generation.
In a hypothetical Clinton v. Trump contest in November, voters under 35 would choose Clinton by a crushing 52%-19%, a preference that crosses demographic lines. Among whites, she'd be backed by nearly 2-1, 45%-26%. Among Hispanics, by more than 4-1, 61%-14%. Among Asian Americans, by 5-1, 60%-11%. Among African Americans, by 13-1, 67%-5%.
Now if they will just get off of their cans and vote.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)On the bright side, they're split fairly evenly, unlike non-millennial white folks.