Zogby International
November 9th, 2009
Zogby has noticed that it is not uncommon for political analysts to treat moderate and independent voters as equivalent. However, in our recent Huffington Post article, we show that these two groups, while overlapping, are not the same. And in the case where main parties are strategizing to attract more voters, this distinction can be important.
The Democrats are the Big Tent Party
Moderates are an group that sits in the middle of ideological continuum between conservatives and liberals. On the other hand, independents are a group of people that doesn’t belong to the two main parties. Many of them are ideologically moderate, but important numbers of them aren’t, and the overall ideology of independents is tilted towards the right.
This fact is relevant for the discussion of whether Republican Party should become more or less conservative. On one hand, its members clearly want it to be more conservative, and this could attract some independent conservatives. On the other hand, if it moves too far, it will alienate independent moderates, a crucial swing-vote.
Of course, the Democrats are the party of the Big Tent who have a mix of liberals, moderates and Blue Dog conservatives. It is less ideological and more pragmatic than the GOP.
See the complete article at http://www.zogby.com/blog/loader.cfm?p=/2009/11/09/about-those-independent-voters/
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
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November 9th, 2009
Zogby has noticed that it is not uncommon for political analysts to treat moderate and independent voters as equivalent. However, in our recent Huffington Post article, we show that these two groups, while overlapping, are not the same. And in the case where main parties are strategizing to attract more voters, this distinction can be important.
The Democrats are the Big Tent Party Moderates are an group that sits in the middle of ideological continuum between conservatives and liberals. On the other hand, independents are a group of people that doesn’t belong to the two main parties. Many of them are ideologically moderate, but important numbers of them aren’t, and the overall ideology of independents is tilted towards the right.
This fact is relevant for the discussion of whether Republican Party should become more or less conservative. On one hand, its members clearly want it to be more conservative, and this could attract some independent conservatives. On the other hand, if it moves too far, it will alienate independent moderates, a crucial swing-vote.
Of course, the Democrats are the party of the Big Tent who have a mix of liberals, moderates and Blue Dog conservatives. It is less ideological and more pragmatic than the GOP.
See the complete article at http://www.zogby.com/blog/loader.cfm?p=/2009/11/09/about-those-independent-voters/
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
Netcraft rank: 5559 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
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