Why We Misunderstand Independent Voters

Let's Find Common Ground

USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future

News, Trump, Opinion, Usc, California, Polls, Debates, Strategists, University, Education, Government, Universitysoutherncalifornia, America, Presidential, Dornsife, Bipartisanship, School, Democrat, Primaries, Elections, Shrum, Primary, News Commentary, Republican, Analysis, General, Polarization, International, Journalists, Federal, Commentary, Election, National, Conversation, Race, Centerpoliticalfuture, Conversations, Murphy, Moderator, Political, Coverage, Biden, Podcast, Politics

5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Independent voters make up more than 40 percent of the voting public. But you wouldn’t know that from media coverage, which focuses almost exclusively on red versus blue. Independents are often overlooked or seen as wishy-washy. Our guests on this episode say that’s a big misconception. In this show we look at a group of voters, including many young people, that is making up a growing slice of the US population. Our guests are Jackie Salit and John Opdycke. Jackie is the author of Independents Rising and president of Independent Voting, an organization dedicated to bringing respect, recognition and reform to independent voters. John Opdycke is president of Open Primaries, which campaigns for primary elections in which every American can vote, not just Republicans or Democrats. John and Jackie say that independents are not moderates: They envision a much less divisive political system than the current one, and they want to play a bigger role in American democracy. Please tell us what you think! Share your feedback in this short survey. For every survey completed we’ll plant 5 trees. Common Ground Podcast Feedback Survey (qualtrics.com)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Independent voters make up about 40% of the voting public, but you wouldn't know it from the media coverage.
0:07.0	No, you would not. Political reporting is often about red versus blue independence tend to get overlooked and mischaracterized,
0:17.5	so we're going to find out why the assumptions about them are so often wrong.
0:22.5	This is Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Richard Davies.
0:30.5	And I'm Ashley Melntite.
0:32.5	In this show, we look at a group of voters that makes up a growing slice of the US population, including a lot of young people.
0:40.5	Our guests are Jackie Salott and John Optike.
0:43.5	Jackie is the author of Independence Rising and President of Independent Voting,
0:49.5	an organization dedicated to bringing respect, recognition, and reform to independent voters.
0:56.5	John Optike is President of Open Primaries, which campaigns for primary elections where every American can vote.
1:05.5	Not just registered Republicans or Democrats.
1:09.5	Jackie, if there's one thing that a lot of people misunderstand about independent voters, what is it?
1:17.5	I would say the one thing is that when an American decides to identify themselves as an independent,
1:25.5	they are making a statement both about themselves and about their feelings about state of politics in this country.
1:33.5	And I sometimes like to say that they're making a statement of non-compliance with the system.
1:39.5	And I think that it's time that that purpose and that sensibility is respected and recognized across the political field.
1:51.5	Independence cared deeply about this country and they don't like the direction that things are going in.
1:59.5	Now, I would say the biggest misconception is that independence are moderates, that we're somehow in between Democrat and Republican.
2:09.5	If you try to attach some kind of ideological label to independence, you miss the whole point of independence.
2:17.5	It's not an alternative ideology. It is a cry for help.
2:22.5	It's saying we can't believe this is the state of American politics.
2:26.5	Can't we do it differently? Can't we do it better?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.