However, they are also at times dismissed as “closet partisans” and ignored for their low political engagements.Ĭonsequently, several political science analyses of American voters either entirely remove them or combine the leaners who lean toward a particular party with weak partisans. First, they are pursued by politicians for their ability to swing elections and their apparent nonpartisan behavior. This question does not have a direct answer. But what about the larger voting bloc without partisan identification and does not identify with any of the popular parties, and how do they impact American politics and democratic processes? Partisan divides in USA today are wider than they have ever been in the modern political era. Independent Voters and American Politics: Their Increasing Importance They try to understand the roles and impacts of independents in American politics. Positions the researchers who study these independents in strange positions as Consequently, several political science analyses of American voters either entirely remove them or combine the leaners who lean toward particular party with weak partisans. However, they are also at times dismissed as “closet partisans” and ignored for their low political engagements. First, they are pursued by politicians for their ability to swing elections and an apparent nonpartisan behavior. But what about the larger voting bloc without partisan identificationĪnd does not identify with any of the popular parties, and how do they impactĪmerican politics and democratic processes? Mike Lee, the GOP has won every Senate contest in Utah since 1976.Partisan divides in USA today are wider than they have ever been in the modern Senate race, where Evan McMullin is running as an independent to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. “It makes for an interesting election, but it’s a really tough thing as a campaign to try to pull that off,” said Burbank.Ī Democrat has not won statewide in Utah since 1996 when Jan Graham was re-elected as attorney general. A broad coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans would be needed. That makes any campaign looking to beat a Republican an uphill battle. “They are in the unaffiliated category because the way parties have chosen to run their nomination processes.” “People can then participate on the Democratic side if they want to, they can easily switch to the Republican side if they want to,” Burbank said. Democratic primaries are open to unaffiliated voters as long as they request a ballot with their county clerk beforehand. They’ll say that they’re an independent, but they will always vote Democratic or they’ll always vote Republican.”Īnother University of Utah professor, Matthew Burbank, offers an additional explanation: Utah’s primary election system.Īlthough registered Republicans are the only people who can participate in party primaries, an unaffiliated voter can easily switch. “Something that’s been a consistent finding in political science for now 70 years is that a lot of people call themselves independents or unaffiliated voters, but they act just like partisan voters. “ doesn’t really tell you a whole lot about people’s actual political behaviors,” said James Curry, who is a political science professor at the University of Utah. “It turns out that most of those people, the vast majority of those people, actually identify with a political party,” said Brigham Young University Professor of Political Science Quin Monson. So are the state’s unaffiliated voters really independents, or just partisans in disguise? The answer to that could actually be pretty simple. They are the second biggest voting block behind Republicans and roughly 28% of the electorate. Just about a half-million active voters in Utah count themselves as unaffiliated. Mitt Romney, for example, carried the state in the 2012 presidential election with over 72% of the vote.īut Republicans only account for just over half of the state's active voters. Statewide races in Utah are routinely won by Republican candidates, usually by double-digit margins.
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