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talkpoliticsUS Voters Increasingly Alienated by Two Major Parties
A new book shows there are now more U.S. voters who identify as independent than as Democrats or Republicans, despite the fact that the two major parties maintain their virtual stranglehold on U.S. politics and, so far, on the 2012 presidential election process.
In his book the “Apartisan American”, Russell Dalton, a professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine, reviews survey trends like the American National Election Studies (ANES), which show the share of U.S. citizens who consider themselves independent has nearly doubled, from 23 percent in 1952 to 40 percent in 2008.
Most of the shift appears to be among people who considered themselves Democrats to those who now consider themselves independent.
“In the past, Independents used to (attract) people at the margins of politics, less educated, less interested, who wouldn’t vote, people at the periphery,” Dalton told IPS.
“What’s changed from 20 percent to 40 percent is the growth among young, educated, politically engaged people who are turned off by political parties. They are interested in politics, and actually vote. They won’t vote out of loyalty, but out of issues. That’s what injected volatility into the [presidential] campaign,” he said.
“The unpredictability of elections, and the willingness of people to shift parties has increased; that’s the first whammy. The second whammy creates difficulties for candidates. They have their base that wants red meat party rhetoric to get them to vote. If they get their base to vote, they’re still 15 percent short of a majority,” Dalton added.
“The most dramatic thing is the Democratic Party is addicted to corporate money, the donations from corporate PACs (political action committees),” McLarty said....
...Yet there is another possibility for him or another candidate this year: a mysterious, well-funded group called Americans Elect is working to gain ballot access in all 50 states and is spending about 10 million dollars to do it.
Richard Winger, publisher of Ballot Access News and one of the nation’s leading experts on ballot access reinforced the Discontent of the Middle:
“It’s a bunch of liberal Republicans who won’t abide with the Republican party,”
“I think people are afraid the Republican Party is going to nominate someone who is inadequate. They want someone high-quality, thoughtful, and intelligent in the race, other than the president (Obama),” Winger said.
Winger says the quality of candidates seeking minor party nominations is increasing, and that the biggest obstacles to their success are the corporate media which will not let them participate in debates.
So we get to the core of the obstacle, corporate controlled media and money. In my cynical opinion, even if a 3rd major party coalesced, the cancer of corporate control would absorb the top tiers and fund raising, with the people shut out again.
Time to change this 'top/down' system into 'base/up' in mentality.
Is it going to take another Red October to change things in America? What do you think? Will a 3rd party "of the middle ground" rise to counteract the extremes that have become the American Political System?
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Date: 27/2/12 17:52 (UTC)Which isn't all bad... if your focus is issues, and not parties, if one of the parties absorbs an issue, that's a win.
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Date: 27/2/12 16:12 (UTC)wait....
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Date: 27/2/12 16:15 (UTC)All the money is in DC. The rest are just support acts, necessary only because of the voting system.
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Date: 27/2/12 16:18 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 27/2/12 22:48 (UTC)For example, I vote in Utah, which will be carried by the Republican candidate come Hell or high water, so I can either A) contribute one more vote toward the Republican's landslide victory, B) lessen the Democrat's landslide defeat by one vote, or C) vote third-party and help one party maintain ballot access.
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From:(no subject)
Date: 27/2/12 17:58 (UTC)The problem was that it was an almost immediate phase change, as the Democrat-Whig dichotomy became the Democrat-Republican dichotomy.
And that took an divisive issue like Slavery.
(no subject)
Date: 28/2/12 01:43 (UTC)The economy (everything from the debt/deficit to jobs) is a very fundamental issue and one that needs resolving sooner then later.
Secondly healthcare has yet to be addressed in a way that solves the unaffordable problem.
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Date: 28/2/12 04:45 (UTC)after watching this...
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Date: 27/2/12 18:09 (UTC)BTW, I was not familiar with your reference to "Red October," so I had to hunt it down (http://books.google.com/books?id=xz2LhK79I3gC&lpg=PP1&dq=hunt%20red%20october&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=hunt%20red%20october&f=false).
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Date: 27/2/12 19:10 (UTC)Second, because of the way votes are divided, many people are afraid to cast a vote that will take a vote away from their candidate of choice. I am one of those voters. If we reformed the way we counted votes, through IRV or even eliminating the winner takes all nature of electoral votes, more people would be willing to vote for someone who was not a sure thing.
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