from Ballot Access News
Major Polls Show 4% or 5% of Americans Choose “Other” When Asked About Partisan Affiliation
April 29th, 2009
For decades, pollsters have been asking U.S. residents if they consider themselves to be Democrats, Republicans, or independents. Recently, however, two of the biggest polls have added “other” to those choices. An NBC News/WSJ Survey released April 29 finds that 4% of respondents choose the “Other” category. A Washington Post/ABC Poll released April 21 found 5% chose “Other”.
When one examines voter registration data, only 2% of voters are registered as members of parties other than Democratic or Republican.
The full poll results, for the partisan affiliation question, are: NBC News/WSJ, Democrats (including independents who lean Democratic) 42%, Republicans (including independents who lean Republican) 31%, strict independents 19%, “Other” 4%, undecided 4%. For the Washington Post/ABC Poll, the results are Democrats (including independents who lean Democratic) 53%, Republicans (including independents who lean Republican) 37%, independents 4%, “Other” 5%, undecided, less than 1%. Here is a link to the Washington Post/ABC Poll. The partisan affiliation question is at the very end. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
According to Ballot Access News, 24-25% of Americans are registered as Independents or third parties.
In a recent washpost poll 38% of respondents claimed to affiliate with neither of the duopoly parties.
None of this amounts to anything given the current rigged system. The US has to catch up with the rest of the world and move past FTTP winner-take-all voting. The ideal laboratory for such a change would be a small state with initiative and referendum-since the incumbent D’s and R’s will never allow it to pass through the legislative process.
Since all states but one have bicameral legislatures there is no rational reason why one house can’t elected by PR .
http://www.proportional-representation.org/
Ideally, all other elections would utilize Range Voting:
http://www.rangevote.net/
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/01/verdict-our-voting-system-loser
Other links on Range Voting:
http://leastevil.blogspot.com/2009/04/fairvotes-flash.html
http://reformthelp.org/issues/voting/range.php
http://rangevoting.org/ForLibs.html
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All of this means nothing unless the rigged voting system is changed. The ideal laboratory would be a small state with initiative and referendum-since the incumbent pols will not take kindly to putting their jobs and privileges in jeopardy.
Think in terms of Proportional Representation voting and “range voting.”
A simple presentation on Range Voting:
http://www.rangevote.net/
More explanation of this:
http://reformthelp.org/issues/voting/range.php
On proportional representation:
http://www.proportional-representation.org/
Sixteen states allow for constitutional amendments through the initiative and referendum process:
http://www.iandrinstitute.org/statewide_i%26r.htm
I’m trying to figure out “undecided, less than 1%”.
That’s like asking the question “Do you like ice cream?” allowing “Yes”, “no” & “occasionally” and someone replying “I’m not sure”.
The GOP which professes to be a “big tent” party despite seemingly different evidence is trying to co-opt the tea party for its own political advantage. You observe Michael Steele’s remark that (paraphrase) “we have to operate in concert to shoot down Obama’s agenda.” Where are the proactive affirmations? How do you trim down the deficit by reducing taxes? How do you fix the health care issue? While I am very outraged at dems in congress and, to a certain extent Obama and his advisors, for not being more aggressive in getting the facts out, I also think that while the repubs have gathered momentum by general resistance the tide is about to turn. You have to advance ideas supported by empirical data points that are good for the nation
The problem with this country is BOTH the Democrats and Republicans. Anyone who seriously thinks that one side isn’t corrupt or slaves to Corporate America hasn’t done an adequate job of paying attention. To the Republicans: The GW administration will go down in History as one of the worst administrations. They eroded your constitutional rights, expanded the power of the wealthy elite, invaded countries under false pretenses, destroyed diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, and spent money like it was going out of style. To the Democrats: Obama is a dud. He promised much and has turned out to be another corporate lackey. He made deals with big pharma to ensure you could not get your medication cheaper elsewhere, he flip flopped on military tribunals, he refuses to fix health care properly through nationalization or single payer, he populates his inner circle with more Wall Street insiders, he spends money on bailouts and useless stimulus packages.
florida car insurance // Mar 9, 2010:
your words, my thots ……….
If we take your advice and pursue a path towards early retirement, who will the government tax to pay for its ever increasing deficit and annual budget? As a boomer myself I find myself conflicted with the thought of my children having to pay higher taxes to fund my early retirement. Dont we all, as Americans, have some shared responsibility to rescue our country from the decades of mismanagement? Or do we punch out early and suck what littles left in the coffers dry?