I would guess that about 50% of the independents were former repubs who just got fed up with their cave-ins to the dems.
Yes but not so much as to boost Independent voter registrations among the entire electorate from 24% in 2012 to 42% in 2014. What caused that historical shift is a mass of new voter registrations of people that hadn’t voted in a long time or never at all. Suddenly they became concerned enough to get in the game. Only the GOPe has let them down. But they will vote for Cruz because he stands up against the GOPe.
It’s important to understand that Ted Cruz is seen as an independent type of republican. In fact Ted Cruz could win as an Independent.
Ted Cruz is right on target. He knows a great swath of the American population that is eligible to vote are sitting home disgusted and demoralized. His ‘Imagine’ speech (a fantastic speech) aimed squarely at rekindling enthusiasm among Christians who have sat out of elections by the millions in the last decade.
Many American conservative voters turned out in the last election but they were not so much republican as they were registered independents.