Given the ruckuses in the caucuses and the pendulum swing of popularity between front-running candidates in both parties, this primary season has come to be called the season of the Independents. While the Republican machine appears to be running out of steam and Democrats are on the rise this cycle (turnout for Democrats has increased while Republican turnout has fallen in all primary states thus far), registration numbers for both parties have gone down, while the numbers of “Decline to State” Voters have gone up.
Just what drives these independent voters? Why, despite the mainstream media’s best attempts, do they refuse to be pigeonholed into one of two camps? In this episode of the Hawke and Dove Political Punditry Podcast, Hawke and Dove interview just such an independent voter. Will either be able to sway her to their side? Will she share vast insights that illuminate the reasoning of the independent voter? Is anyone even taking the “other” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg seriously?
This is not a new phenomenon. John Anderson ran a somewhat successful independent Presidential campaign in 1980, though today he has endorsed Barack Obama. And who can forget the charts, graphs, and Yoda-like appearance of perhaps the most famous independent candidate, Ross Perot? But neither of these gentlemen had truly strong showings in the final polls.
If the blogosphere is any indication, independence is on the rise. Which party will be able to claim these independents as supporters come November is anybody’s guess, though dissatisfaction with the Bush Administration appears to have pushed many towards the left at this point in time. Truly, though, when the November election comes, it may come to be remembered not as a boon for either party, but rather as Independents’ Day.