Bummer! USA loses to Japan 3-1 in PKs!
We hear all the crap fed to us by the media….you pick the media, none of them offer a real analysis….they are telling us that the independents will make all the difference in the 2012 election….will Obama convert them or will it be the GOP nominee?
I recently wrote a post on the centrist vs independent debate….http://t.co/UCvygdG (if you would like to refresh your memory…..personally, I do not believe all the hype on the independent thing, as we will read….and it seems that a few agree with me, at least partially…..
I found this on political wire…..
Alan Abramowitz dispels the idea that independent voters are the largest segment of the American electorate and will decide the 2012 election.
“Research by political scientists on the American electorate has consistently found that the large majority of self-identified independents are ‘closet partisans’ who think and vote much like other partisans. Independent Democrats and independent Republicans have little in common. Moreover, independents with no party preference have a lower rate of turnout than those who lean toward a party and typically make up less than 10% of the electorate. Finally, independents don’t necessarily determine the outcomes of presidential elections; in fact, in all three closely contested presidential elections since 1972, the candidate backed by most independent voters lost.”
I have been calling this BS for the last 10 years and it is good to see that people are starting to see what a pile of manure that is being fed to the public……media analyst use it because they cannot explain what is happening in the electorate and it is easier to make up something than to do the research…..
The independents are the biggest myth that has been perpetrated on the public by the media in the last couple of decades…….we are political animals and few of us are truly independent…..
I understand what you’re saying and, in one sense at least, I’m sure you’re right. However, I think the problem is once again largely one of terminology (and perhaps partly mindset).
Of course, my bench mark is the UK and therefore I cannot fully allow for the differences between the UK and US in their respective ways of looking at things, but in the UK, “independent” is a term applied only to the candidates and they are NOT allied to ANY party. Voters are often referred to as “floating voters” and, though they may lean to the left or the right in terms of their principal views, they are the ones who are NOT solidly in favour of one party or another – they DO eventually usually align themselves with one party or another for the purpose of voting ONLY, but often only at the very last minute and it will be the party that finally persuades them that it is the “least bloody awful” that they pick – or they won’t vote at all because, in the end, they can’t stomach ANY of the assholes on offer.
In the UK, the “floating voters” DO make up a huge chunk of the electorate and the more disillusioned the country is with the incumbent party, the larger the proportion of the undecided voters there are – particularly at the start of an election campaign. Naturally, each of the main parties (well, even the little ones too) have a hardcore following who would vote for them even if their party was telling them it would shoot them if elected (literally) – which is incidentally why I refer to them as the “rabid left” and the “rabid right”. PART (only) of the rabid right are at least following what are broadly self interests, but the rabid left are just plain stupid since their affiliation is based solely on ideology.
But then of course, in the UK, the system is NOT based solely on money, few are entirely bought and paid for before they even stand for election and what the MEDIA says and how often (ALL main TV channels at least) is strictly controlled during election campaigns to prevent bias being too big a factor. Blatant lying through one’s teeth is also frowned upon rather than being expected and even applauded, as it seems to be in the US.
In short, I think that you HAVE to cut the money and the media (TV for sure) out of the equation and THEN the floating voters (or independents as you call them) will finally come into their own – maybe… heck, you MIGHT even get a system that is vaguely democratic…
Quin, it is one of termino0logy…the US media wants the viewer to think that there are true independents….in fact very few….if there we as many as the media claims….I think a third party would be more strong……I agree with the media and money thing, as you know, that has ruined a system that could be a bit more democratic…..
Is an Indy just a fancy name for undecided. Do they excist? so what are they? Is this more made up news because 24 hours is a long time to fill. I love how the media wants us to know how important they are by educationing us about voter ideals. F@ck the media and the holier horse shit disguising the ads!
I say again…..the media driving the news…..
In the UK, at least half the electorate is an Indy as you call them – even if they don’t know it. But then our TV is NOT allowed to drive the election in the same way as in the US, so the people have to try to decide on the basis of policy (though they mostly don’t understand it or the implications – just like the US).
In the US, there are NO independents, well few, our elections prove that….voters piss and moan and vote along partisan lines….that is not independents….the media wants there to be but they prove themselves wrong with every election and yet they still push the independent thing……so yes, they drive the election.