Jeffrey, I never said independents were smart and full of wisdom. Only they’re the election deciders. Most independents don’t pay any or very little attention to politics until an election nears. They’re about as far from being a political junkie as one can get. Yet they’re the election deciders in this era of shrinking major parties. Independents has risen from 30% of the electorate in 2006 up to 42% today. What do independents want? I’d say a sense of wellbeing, a sense of safety, the feeling they’re life is improving and more. Pretty much what everyone wants. But their life doesn’t revolve around politics, they’re more interested in the price of a loaf of bread, eggs, hot dogs, etc. More interested in rooting for their favorite sports team, watching their favorite TV shows, taking care of family. All have a higher priority to them than politics. They’re not about to delve deep into the issues and do any research either. It’s the feeling they have. They feel that under Trump their lives were better than under Biden. That milk, bread, eggs, gas, housing, clothes, the essentials of life were cheaper under Trump. Fact is they were. They don’t care about the reason or reasons behind this, just that it was. So, who’s do they blame? Who’s in charge? It isn’t Trump.
According to Gallup, only 32% of all Americans follow news about national politics closely. Which can be broken down to 37% of democrats following the news about national politics closely, 36% of republicans with only 27% of independents who follow the national political news closely. This leaves 68% of all Americans who aren’t political junkies. This also leaves well over half of those who identify themselves with both major parties who aren’t political junkies either or don’t follow politics closely. It isn’t just independents.
Let’s face it, there aren’t that many Americans who are very interested in politics. On average we have 45% of all Americans who never bother to vote in a presidential election. That percentage rises to 60% who don’t have the time or care about voting in the midterms. Local elections when not held in conjunction to the presidential or midterm election, those who don’t bother to vote in them rises to 75-80%. We had a school board election last July in my county, only 11% of eligible voters voted.
