I agree, but only to a point. The point of the blog is that voters are increasingly calling themselves independents when talking to pollsters or registering to vote, which I interpret as a symptom of more people taking on anti-partisan views in an age of ideological rigidity and gridlock.
Larimer County is a good example of a county that has a history of split tickets and partisan swings between elections. It voted for Bush twice, Obama twice, Udall and Buck. Unaffiliated voters are the largest bloc of registered voters (36%, see table).
When voters registered unaffiliated were asked in a recent Ciruli Associates poll, their party preference, the largest group, 70 percent, said independent. Nine percent said Republican and 14 percent Democrat.
Asked their political philosophy, 49 percent said middle, 40 percent liberal and 21 percent conservative. Their near 50 percent declaration of a middle philosophy was larger than registered Democrats, 27 percent of whom said they were in the middle, and the 22 percent of Republicans who described themselves in the middle position.
Notice 22 percent of Republicans identified as independent and only 8 percent of Democrats. Twenty-nine percent of Democrats said they were in the middle and 20 percent of Republicans. Fewer Democrat rank and file claim to be liberal than Republican rank and file identify as conservatives.
Lots of polling data and voting analyses show that unaffiliated voters are the most capable of changing their position on candidates and issues and are more easily influenced by media and events, especially if dramatic and late in a campaign.
The reason Colorado has become a battleground state is the high percentage of less partisan, more persuadable voters.
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