Posted on 04/24/2012 8:48:41 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Independents are the largest portion of voters, outnumbering either Democrats or Republicans.
I am not talking about this "dealignment trend" and the emergence of what Russell Dalton called the Apartisan American. That is the independent voter. The impact of apartisans is critical to the 2012 election and the future. But I am talking about his fourth category.
Dalton id'd four categories. The first two have greater political savvy and "are best viewed as either cognitive partisans or apartisans, depending upon partisan attachments." I understand apartisan to mean that they pay attention but they do not ID with a political party.
A third category has lower interest and skills and is categorized as ritual partisans. That kind used to vote for everyone in the Party with just one mark. That's the way I interpret it.
He's not who I mean either.
Here's the "dummy" I am talking about. The apolitical independent.
The others will be too savvy to be swayed by "nonpartisan" media no matter how hard "nonpartisan" media try. They will have knowledge of the other issues vis-a-vis Obama and will not be controlled by the "nonpartisan" media.
In a close election the impact of these cute stories on apolitical independents could give the election to Obama and the Democrats. No doubt in my mind that there are way more "nonpartisan" media that favor the Left than favor the Right.
The opinions about Obama, Democrats, and Republicans are mine.
The Apartisan American: Dealignment and Changing Electoral Politics Russell J Dalton.
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