Behavioral and Other Implications of Political Independence Trends in California
Various commentators have focused on the sharp rise in the proportion of decline to state registrants in California (i.e., those who fail to list a party preference on registration forms), declaring that this signals the ascendancy of independent voters. However, in a prior paper for this conference we showed that the above claim is somewhat misleading; the sharp and steady increase in decline to state registrants is not matched by a clear trend with respect to the portion of citizens identifying as pure independents. Moreover, people who decline to express a party preference are not necessarily the same type of people who consider themselves independents. Our present research will take the analysis of partisan trends further, concentrating on the consequences of various notions of independence for political knowledge, interest, and behavior. Drawing on pooled data over multiple decades from the Field Poll of Californians, we will examine similarities and differences among those identifying as partisans, registering as partisans, identifying as independents, and registering as decline to state voters. We will consider a wide variety of measures, such as knowledge of basic political facts and awareness of ballot propositions. We will also assess implications for the extant political science literature in this area such as The Myth of the Independent Voter
Year of publication: |
2010
|
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Authors: | Lascher, Edward L. |
Other Persons: | Korey, John (contributor) |
Publisher: |
[2010]: [S.l.] : SSRN |
Saved in:
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