Political independents are among the most heavily scrutinized groups in American politics. They’re also, as a new analysis of CNN’s most recent polling shows, not much of a bloc at all: Their backgrounds and viewpoints cover a wide spectrum.
A dive into independents’ views highlights two basic principles for thinking about their role in the nation’s politics. First, it shows the limits of treating “independents” as a single, centrist political bloc — or even as an ideologically coherent one. Second, however, the poll also shows that independents are still notably different from self-identified partisans in some key ways, and that the issues where they break away from those partisan structures are often critical stress points. CONTINUED
Ariel Edwards-Levy & Jennifer Agiesta, CNN
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