"The Nature of Pure Independent Political Party Dispositions."
Presented at the Annual Meeting of the
Abstract
This paper examines the nature of citizens’ perceptions of
political parties, focusing on those who political scientists classify as Pure
Independents. Research on party
affiliation has relied on quantitative survey data. I take a modest first step at complementing
those studies with a qualitative analysis of open-ended focus groups
comments. Bay Area male and female Pure
Independents met separately in the spring of 2003. The results show that surprisingly few use
the term, Independent, to describe themselves politically. Second, notwithstanding the partisan
neutrality implied in their responses to the PID
questions, most of them vote consistently for either Democrats or
Republicans. Third, men expressed a
strong sense of civic superiority and tended to consider themselves more
careful thinkers and more responsible citizens.
Some women said that as Independents they feel they have a stronger
voice in the political process. Finally,
several people who participated in the study had become Independents only after
the 2000 presidential election.