cover image The Myth of the Independent Voter

The Myth of the Independent Voter

Bruce E. Keith, Raymond E. Wolfinger. University of California Press, $38 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-520-03688-8

Since the 1960s, political pundits have warned that the growing numbers of American voters who call themselves Independents portends a dramatic, potentially volatile political change. In a careful academic review of data from studies at the University of Michigan, Keith, an independent scholar, and his colleagues demolish that myth. Most Independents, they emphasize, are actually closet Republicans or Democrats; only a few are ``pure'' Independents. The authors acknowledge that the growth in Independents cannot be linked to any specific issue or to dissatisfaction with the party system or the parties' doctrinal vagueness. But pure Independents are more likely to be disenchanted with the political system as well as more politically uninformed and uninvolved than other Independents or those affiliated with a party. The authors end on a ``doubly cheerful note'': party identification remains important, and the increase in Independents does not suggest political decay. It might have been fruitful had they also noted how our electoral system, unlike those offering proportional representation, effectively shuts out third parties, making it virtually meaningless to stray from the two established ones. (June)