Reply #1: No surprise there [View All]

[bluestateguy]

For years it was standard fare in the political science communitty that parties were weaker and many voters were ticket splitters.

For the last ten years more and more of the scholarly literature from the political scientists has been affirming the tred noted in the article: more party polarization, more straight ticket voting and fewer voters who are really truly "independent". Many voters call themselves "independent" or self-identify that way, but in reality they usually vote Democratic or Republican.