The independent voter

The aim of this chapter is to provide an insight into the make-up of the independent voter. Four features of the independent vote are examined in this chapter. The first concerns the socio-economic basis to the independent vote, the second feature examined is the extent to which support for independents is a personalistic and localistic vote, the third concerns party detachment, while the fourth feature examined is the protest element of the independent vote. These features feed back to the central thesis of this study that there are factors at play in Ireland that are permissive of independents. An important finding is that a vote for independents is not a completely irrational, aberrant vote. The presence of some consistent features suggests there is a logical structure to the independent vote. Under certain permissive conditions, such as a localistic and personalistic political culture, and a declining attachment to political parties, support for independents is greater.

The Myth of the Independent Voter Revisited

This chapter revisits the findings and conclusions reached in The Myth of the Independent Voter (1992), which shows independents in the electorate from 1952 (the first year in which the ANES asked respondents for their party identification) through 1988. Furthermore, the chapter addresses, where needed, some of the claims and concerns that still circulate regarding the large bloc of independents. It discusses the increase in the number of citizens identifying as independent, a phenomenon which began in the 1960s and is now considered a potential threat to the current American party system, which has been seen as a fundamental, long-term influence on Americans' political attitudes and behavior, and as the single most important predictor of the vote.