I’m an Independent?
So last time it was just a general overview on my topic and my opinion on some of the issues that come up within party politics. This week will be more focused and I’ve decided to go with one of your suggestions. Is it good or bad to be an independent in a partisan political climate? What are the pros and cons? Is it worth it or worthless?
First off, some background: as of September 2019, according to Gallup Polling, thirty one percent of Americans identified as Democrat, twenty nine percent identified as Republican, and thirty eight percent identified as Independent. (Gallup.) The majority of registered voters are actually independent. However, an independent candidate has never won the presidency, unless you count George Washington, who, if you remember from last time, was unaffiliated with either of the two forming parties of his time. (Thought Co.) Registered independents can not vote in either the Democratic nor the Republican primaries. It is required to be registered as that party to vote in that primary unless they are open primaries, which some states have. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania is not one of them. (Classroom.) Primary elections are for electing the candidate the party would like to represent them in the general election.
Moving on to the pros and cons besides maybe the first one being that Independents can’t vote in some primaries. When I first googled “Pros and cons of being an independent,” the first title to show up was “Become an ‘Independent’ Voter at your Own Risk” (Des Moines Register.) The article was actually also about how in 2016, thirty six percent of Iowa voters would not be able to have a say in who were going to be the presidential candidates because they were not registered to a party so they could not vote. (Des Moines Register.)
Another con of being registered as an Independent is that people feel they have less of if no voice. Firstly because of the restriction on voting in primaries. They are giving up voting on who gets to represent each party at all. However, along with this, a lot of people feel that registering as an Independent and voting for a third party is throwing their vote away. Even if that candidate represents the ideals that they want to see implemented, it doesn’t matter because they’ll never win anyway. It’s just taking away a vote against the worse of two evils of Republican or Democrat that are running in their point of view.
Though those cons already may turn you off from being an Independent, there are pros too. Independents are not tied to a particular party, and therefore have more room for flexibility. A lot of people get so caught up in their party, they forget to remember what the party stands for and end up blindly voting for whoever sits in their party. Independents can not get caught up in this phenomenon. They do not have an affiliation so they are forced to do research on the candidates to see which one they like better. They don’t have as much of an easy out as Republicans or Democrats might in that they can be lazy and do no research, trusting the candidate running for their party is good enough. (East Herts People.)
This is slightly off topic in that this is a pro for having an Independent actually run for president. But I did touch on cons of this so I feel justified in bringing this up now. Anyway, Independent candidates “are a great way of getting people who are more interested in single-issue politics out to vote.” (East Herts People.) If an Independent candidate hits on one of the issues that a single-issues voter agrees with, they are a good choice for that voter. They offer an alternative to the usual parties we see so heavily in the media these days. Also, if an Independent candidate runs, they will probably get at least some media attention, again, taking away from the major parties we typically succumb to. (East Herts People.)
Though I personally believe that being an Independent is better (though I will say I’m biased because I consider myself to be an Independent), I also think that it is not useful in the political climate we live in today. Being a registered voter in Pennsylvania makes me want to be registered under a party so I can vote in the primaries. I know I will always do the research on all of the candidates so I can be an informed voter, no matter my registered party and I encourage all of you to do so as well.
Works Cited
Gallup. “Gallup Poll.” Gallup.com, Gallup, 30 Nov. 2017, news.gallup.com/poll/101905/gallup-poll.aspx.
Murse, Tom. “The 5 Most Successful Independent Presidential Candidates in History.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 3 July 2019, www.thoughtco.com/most-successful-independent-presidential-candidates-3367561.
Portero, Ashley. “Which States Use an Open Primary Election?” Synonym, 21 Nov. 2017, classroom.synonym.com/states-use-open-primary-election-14094.html.
“Pros and Cons of Independents.” East Herts People, www.ehpeople.org/about-us/independant-politicians/pros-and-cons-independants.
Schmidt, Steffen. “Become an ‘Independent’ Voter at Your Own Risk.” Des Moines Register, The Des Moines Register, 5 Jan. 2018, www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/iowa-view/2018/01/04/become-independent-voter-your-own-risk/1004582001/.
As an independent myself, I think the biggest pro is that you lose the affiliation with a party. The biggest thing I always hate seeing is how the connotations of parties will be immediately tied to someone who is registered under that party. For example, people registered under the Democrats are tied to the “socialist”, “liberal” ideologies that cover the extremes of the Democratic Party even if the person doesn’t believe in them.
It really is crazy that the largest sector of US voters are registered as independent, despite not being able to vote in primary elections in some states. Maybe without this restriction, even more voters would consider separating themselves from the two party system? I also wonder if the primary voting restriction rules were implemented by party politicians to improve their own reelection chances.
My brother actually identifies with the Green party (even though he’s only eleven and doesn’t know much of anything), and I try to tell him that he won’t be politically relevant! He tells me that the Green party needs to make a comeback and that he will be the face of the campaign, but I literally just tell him that the Green party can’t make a comeBACK, if it was never here to begin with. Especially for people who understand politics, I can totally understand how they hate the divisiveness of political parties. However, they also realize that it’s necessary to choose a political party, because that’s the only way that they’ll be able to make an impact. As a moderate liberalish myself, I know that I will educate myself before making a decision, especially because there are so many options.
So I am a person whose extremely weary of independents because I’ve seen many of my apolitical friends use this as a cop out and excuse for not voting since they “just can’t in the primary so now I’m annoyed in the general”. Also, independents have an odd reputation since many independents in congress tend to be left leaning (ie Senator Sanders-VT) but many independents running for president fall under libertarian or religiously focused (ie Evan McMullin-UT).
It really does suck that in most states, Independents can’t vote for primaries. And it does seem a bit backwards that in order for a vote to count, you have to identify yourself on the political binary, but I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing. Yes, a two-party system can be divisive, but it can also allow people (non-Independents) to find their voice in a political community. I do have to make a critique, however. You clearly recognize your bias, and that is not a bad thing, but you need to make sure that your bias doesn’t alienate your readers (calling non-Independents lazy).