I’ve been back over a week from our trip to Alaska. I’ve been debating what to say about it. I’m not much into travelogues (go buy a Fodor’s), so I’ve been thinking of something clever and different to say. So, here goes—maybe not clever, but probably different.
Nowadays it seems that a wide sociopolitical spectrum describes the set of U.S. independent voters. The techniques for defining them and counting them seem nebulous at best. Of course, it’s hard to do the second if you haven’t done the first. There are true independents, people who will not make a decision until the day of the election, for parties or people, although they will taunt you by saying that they tend to lean one way or the other. There are the shifters, people who say they are Dems and vote GOP or vice versa. Others will vote in one election and not another or not in primaries (in some states you can’t vote in primaries if you haven’t declared a nominal party allegiance). Finally, some are third party voters who don’t vote unless they have a candidate (Socialists, Libertarians, etc)—they’re for an “independent party.”
