{"id":2054742,"date":"2023-10-04T03:30:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-04T07:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/courting-the-35-million-independent-voters-who-wield-mighty-but-unpredictable-election-power\/"},"modified":"2023-10-04T03:35:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T07:35:01","slug":"courting-the-35-million-independent-voters-who-wield-mighty-but-unpredictable-election-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/courting-the-35-million-independent-voters-who-wield-mighty-but-unpredictable-election-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Appealing to 35M Independent Voters: Harnessing Their Mighty, Unforeseeable Election Influence."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcourting-the-35-million-independent-voters-who-wield-mighty-but-unpredictable-election-power%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2054742&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><blockquote>\n<h2>Engaging\u2064 Third-Party Voters: The Wild Card \u200bin \u200cElections<\/h2>\n<p>For \u200bmore than 35 million registered U.S. voters, there is neither a donkey nor an elephant in \u2064the room. They are the \u200dthird-party or &#8220;unaffiliated&#8221; voters, who either support a different party or are too fed up with politics \u2063as \u200cusual\u200b to join the Democratic or Republican parties.<\/p>\n<p>These voters \u2064hold significant power to swing elections. They&#8217;re \u2062the \u2062wild card in a world that prefers predictable electoral conditions, with endless studies and polls.<\/p>\n<p>When registering to vote, some states require voters to declare a party affiliation. These \u2063data create a snapshot \u200cof which \u200dparty is more powerful in a state and can \u200dhelp inform strategy for candidates.<\/p>\n<p>For example,\u200c based on voter registration numbers, South \u200cDakota is\u200d a heavily \u200cred state where it&#8217;s tough for \u2064Democrat or third-party\u200d candidates \u200bto win elections. As of Sept. 1, South Dakota \u200dhad 150,748 registered Democrats and 304,114 registered Republicans\u2014a GOP advantage of 153,366.<\/p>\n<p>South Dakota has an additional 151,353 third-party \u200dand unaffiliated registered voters. Assuming a 100 \u2063percent voter turnout, even \u200dif every voter in\u200c this third\u2063 group voted with Democrats,\u2064 the result would be 302,101 for a Democratic \u200ccandidate, which isn&#8217;t quite enough to beat all 304,114 Republican \u2063voters.<\/p>\n<p>But \u2063that&#8217;s not how the real world works. Republican and Democratic voters are fairly predictable, but they don\u2019t always vote with their \u2064own party and they\u2064 don&#8217;t always turn out to vote.<\/p>\n<p>Voters in the third category\u200d are much less predictable, yet sometimes candidates ignore them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Predictable Voters<\/h3>\n<p>Candidates\u2064 with limited time and money can\u2019t talk to every voter on every issue, so they make choices about which\u2063 voters to invest their resources in, according to Jong Eun Lee, assistant\u200c professor of \u2063political science at North\u200d Greenville University\u200b in South\u2063 Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to target people you think are most \u200clikely to vote, and most likely to vote\u2063 for you,\u201d\u200d Mr. \u200dLee told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo if I\u2019m \u200bRepublican, I\u2019m \u2063more likely to knock on the door of the people I know are Republican, \u2063because these \u200dare\u2063 the people I can get to vote, \u200dand it&#8217;s going to make my time and commitment worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Energizing the \u200dbase to show up on \u200dElection Day is a strategy \u2062used by candidates of a majority party, \u2062while a minority\u2064 party candidate must work to convince\u2063 likely \u200cvoters in their party\u200b as \u200dwell as unaffiliated \u2063or third-party voters, Mr. \u2063Lee said.<\/p>\n<p>That strategy could make the difference in battleground states \u200bsuch as Pennsylvania, where these voters \u200bhave considerable sway.<\/p>\n<p>Pennsylvania has slightly more registered Democrats \u200b(3,886,501) over Republicans (3,437,073), \u200baccording to September voter \u200cregistration records. The difference is 449,428 votes.<\/p>\n<p>However, there are 1.2 million third-party\u200c or unaffiliated voters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an ideologically diverse group \u200dof voters, including discontented Republicans and Democrats, moderates, hardcore progressives, and hardcore conservatives,\u201d Mr. Lee said. \u201cVirtually anyone who doesn&#8217;t \u200caffiliate \u200cwith the two \u200bmajor \u200bparties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Candidates try to identify whether someone is a conservative-leaning independent, or progressive-leaning independent,\u200b Mr. Lee \u200csaid. \u200bIf candidates\u2063 are able to identify\u2064 a voter\u2019s ideological leaning, \u2063it\u200b is easier to decide whom to target for campaigning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome campaigns engage in community-based \u2064outreach. \u2063Perhaps there\u2063 is a particular community \u2062that normally does not vote \u200bin higher numbers but now has a \u200dcertain local\u2063 policy\u200d issue\u200b the community is\u200d interested in,\u201d he said. \u201cThis \u2064could be\u2064 an opportunity for \u200cthe campaigns to reach out to independent voters through issue awareness\u200c campaigns. Another way \u2062is through checking \u2063the voter&#8217;s consumer practices.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Ballot Access<\/h3>\n<p>It \u2063can&#8217;t be assumed that the unaffiliated voter will end up voting \u200bfor a Democratic or Republican \u200ccandidate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s no reason that they should be\u2062 compelled to vote a certain way in an election, where they fundamentally have the\u2063 abstract, strong ideological\u2064 differences with\u200c the two major parties and their two candidates,&#8221; Angela\u200d McArdle, chair of the\u200c national Libertarian Party, told The Epoch Times. &#8220;There should \u2064be more options if we want to be a moral and just society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nationally, a third<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/courting-the-35-million-independent-voters-who-wield-mighty-but-unpredictable-election-power\/\" title=\"Appealing to 35M Independent Voters: Harnessing Their Mighty, Unforeseeable Election Influence.\">-party presidential candidate typically\u200b draws<\/a> more than a million votes,\u2064 and Ms. McArdle said a third-party option is\u2064 becoming a possibility in the current presidential election cycle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou&#8217;ve got Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressing interest in running\u2062 as third-party\u2064 independent. \u2062That&#8217;s going to be a total game changer,&#8221; she said. \u2062&#8221;You&#8217;ve seen\u200d this movement called\u200b \u2018No Labels\u2019 with Holly Paige pushing for a centrist-type third party. You\u2019ve got the Forward Party, which came out of\u200c a recent split within the Democratic Party. There&#8217;s a lot of appetite and\u2063 interest\u2014there is momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>New parties are \u2062learning\u2064 what\u2063 the Libertarian Party already knows: access to the ballot is \u200dincredibly challenging.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s something that people in positions of power use to hold on to those positions of power,\u201d Ms. McArdle said. \u201cThere are \u2063all kinds of laws\u200b set up at the state level\u2014and it\u2062 differs \u2062state \u200cby state\u2014that\u200b makes it very challenging for you to get \u2062on the ballot if you&#8217;re not declared as a Republican or a Democrat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Furthermore,\u200b you&#8217;ve got to go through internal party primaries in the Republican and Democratic parties, so they have a very good \u2063chance of \u2063picking who they want, except for states \u2063like California, Arizona, and Montana that \u2064are open\u200d primary \u2064states. The \u2064longer it takes you to get name recognition and to grow a movement around yourself, \u200cthe further away \u200cyou become in people&#8217;s minds, as\u2064 a realistic option.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Sometimes Ignored<\/h3>\n<p>Republicans and Democrats don\u2019t have a general\u2064 practice of trying to reach\u200b people who are unaffiliated, Ms. McArdle said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that with races being very close\u2014and I think George Bush\u2064 Jr. did this really aggressively\u2014you see people playing really hard to\u2063 their own base, making sure that their own base is energized, that people \u200chave updated their voter registration, and that they&#8217;re very active, \u2063and \u200bthey have \u200dindividual voters doing a \u200dlot of grassroots work and outreach on social media,\u201d \u200bshe said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe primary objective behind that is not even to expand\u2064 their base into the unregistered \u200cvoter base. It \u200dis\u200c to ensure that their own people \u200bfeel bought-in, they \u200chave skin in the game, and they show up to vote on Election Day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Independent and third-party registered\u2063 voters are unpredictable and unreliable, Ms. McArdle said; that&#8217;s on par \u2062with people who \u200daren&#8217;t registered to\u2062 vote. Though an unprecedented \u2062number of those voters turned\u2062 out at the polls in 2020, Ms. McArdle views\u200c that\u200c as\u2063 a political anomaly rather than the new norm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2064 were highly motivated to vote \u200cagainst Donald Trump. I think that the Democratic Party did a\u200d really good job \u200dof freaking people\u200d out over Donald Trump 2.0, and they got a ton of people to show up to the\u2064 polls.\u201d Ms. McArdle said. \u201cI don&#8217;t think they&#8217;re\u2064 going to get that\u2062 this next election cycle. I don&#8217;t think Biden&#8217;s second \u200bterm is anywhere close to something people want to get behind if they&#8217;re on the fence about it. It&#8217;s\u200d just not going to work\u2063 the same way this\u2064 year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, \u200bthe Libertarian Party is \u200cworking with other groups to build a third-party \u2064base.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are expanding our reach to other independents \u200dand third parties \u200cwho are \u200dpeople who, if you&#8217;re already voting third party, if you&#8217;re already interested and you&#8217;ve decided\u2063 you&#8217;re not committed to Republicans \u2062and Democrats, you are \u2063much \u2062more likely \u2062to vote for a Libertarian candidate than someone who is a\u200d dyed-in-the-wool conservative. It&#8217;s a much easier sell to someone who&#8217;s already opted \u200bout of the two-party\u200c system,\u201d Ms. McArdle \u200bsaid.<\/p>\n<h3>Conservative Theory<\/h3>\n<p>When registering\u2062 to vote, \u200dsome people\u2062 wish to conceal their affiliation by not declaring a\u2064 party, or\u200b by registering\u200d as\u2064 independent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re getting\u200d more tribal in\u2064 nature, on both the left \u2063and the right,\u201d\u200d Kaelan Dorr, a former aide to former President Donald Trump and current chief\u2064 marketing \u2063officer for the free speech browser TUSK, told\u2064 The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a really nasty game. Politics has become increasingly nasty and polarized over the \u2064last 10 years, and\u200b I think it&#8217;s far worse than \u2062people \u206212 \u200byears ago, 15 years ago, thought it would \u2062ever be.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He thinks that nonaffiliated voters tend to lean to \u2064the right.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m of the belief that far more people \u200cbelieve \u2064in\u2064 conservative\u2062 values, but \u200ddon&#8217;t necessarily vote Republican because of the way that they&#8217;ve grown up or\u200d what \u200ctheir parents have \u200ctold them,&#8221; he said. &#8220;These [independents] are \u2064the people that propelled Trump to victory in 2016\u200c and very far in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is that silent majority that we are always trying to capture empirically\u2014the folks\u200c that don&#8217;t like the influence that Hollywood has on, like, the way we raise our kids, or maybe they don&#8217;t like TikTok. They don&#8217;t like \u200dthe CCP [Chinese Communist Party]. They don&#8217;t \u2062like \u2064fighting endless foreign wars on \u200cforeign soil.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>They don&#8217;t know\u2062 that they are conservative yet, Mr. Dorr said. And \u200che suspects that is \u200dwhy some\u2062 people don\u2019t declare a\u2063 party.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSociety\u200d tells\u200b you that being\u200d conservative\u200b isn&#8217;t cool. Society tells you that being a conservative or a Republican makes you a racist, a Nazi, or a bigot,\u201d \u200bhe said.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the same reason,\u200b he says, that some voters are hesitant to tell pollsters which candidate\u2064 they\u200b support. Millions of third-party and unaffiliated voters will remain unpredictable\u200c until they make their voices heard on\u200c Election Day.<\/p>\n<h3>States by the\u2062 Numbers<\/h3>\n<p>Nationwide, there were\u200d 48 million registered Democratic voters, 36.4 million registered Republican voters, and 35.3 million registered \u2063voters who\u200c identified themselves as independent or \u200bunaffiliated with any political party as of October 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Thirty-one states, the District of Columbia,\u200b and\u200c the U.S. Virgin Islands\u200c allow, but don\u2019t require, voters to\u200c declare \u2062their party affiliation when registering to vote.<\/p>\n<p>In some \u200dstates, this is an important distinction, because only voters registered with the Republican \u2064or Democratic parties \u200bare allowed to vote in primaries.\u200c For\u200d example, in Pennsylvania, independents and unaffiliated voters must sit out the primary. \u200dDemocrats can\u200b only vote\u200b for their preferred Democratic candidates and Republicans get a Republican-only primary ballot.<\/p>\n<p>In states that allow voters \u200bto declare other party affiliations, the third\u2064 category is often the most populous.<\/p>\n<p>In\u200d Massachusetts, there are more registered third-party and unaffiliated voters (2,973,673) than Democrats (1,386,550) and Republicans (421,333) combined, according to the most recent state data.<\/p>\n<p>North Carolina has more registered\u200d \u201cother\u201d voters (2,714,305) than registered Democrats (2,414,115) \u200bor registered \u200dRepublicans \u2062(2,208,590).<\/p>\n<p>In Alaska, there are\u2062 600,130 total registered voters, including 382,879 other voters, 142,328 \u2063Republicans, and \u206474,923 \u200dDemocrats, as of August 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The state \u200bof Wyoming has 216,617 registered voters, of which \u200cthere\u200c are 177,154 registered Republicans, 23,030 registered Democrats, and 16,433\u2063 third-party or unaffiliated voters.<\/p>\n<p>The District \u200cof Columbia has 513,947 total registered voters with 406,833 of them \u2062declared \u2063as Democrats,\u2063 28,413 as\u2063 Republicans, and \u200c96,701 as\u200b third-party or unaffiliated\u200b voters.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2>Who was the most successful \u200dthird party candidate in terms of percentage of popular vote quizlet?<\/h2>\n<p><span>In 1992, Ross Perot ran one \u2063of the most \u2062successful third-party, independent campaigns in US history. They received 19 percent of the vote, but lost the election and didn&#8217;t win a single state.\u2062 For\u200b more voters who are unhappy with the two major parties and their candidates. However, third-party candidates face\u200c significant challenges when\u200b it \u200ccomes \u200bto \u200bballot access and visibility.<\/p>\n<p>In many states, third-party \u2064candidates \u200dmust meet certain requirements to appear on the ballot. These requirements can range from collecting a certain number \u200bof signatures to paying substantial filing fees. These hurdles make it difficult for third-party candidates to compete on an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/another-sport-bans-transgender-athletes-from-competing-against-biological-females\/\" title=\"Transgender athletes barred from competing against biological females in another sport.\">equal playing\u200b field<\/a> with their Democratic and Republican counterparts.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, third-party candidates often\u2063 struggle to gain media\u2063 attention and funding. The mainstream media tends to focus on the two major \u2062parties, leaving little room for coverage of third-party candidates. This lack of visibility makes it challenging for\u200d third-party candidates to gain traction and \u2064connect \u2063with\u2063 voters.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these obstacles, there is\u200c a growing\u2063 sentiment among voters that the two major\u2062 parties \u2064do\u200d not fully represent their interests.\u2064 Many\u200c voters are disillusioned with the partisan gridlock and\u200d corruption they perceive in the political system. These voters are looking for alternatives \u2064and \u200care open to \u2063supporting third-party\u2062 candidates \u200bwho offer fresh perspectives and solutions.<\/p>\n<p>Engaging third-party voters requires a different approach than mobilizing core party supporters. Candidates must actively reach out to these voters, \u2063listen to their concerns, and address their issues. This means investing resources in grassroots \u2064organizing, community \u200coutreach, and issue-based campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, third-party \u200bcandidates should prioritize ballot\u2063 access reforms to remove\u200b the barriers that prevent them \u200dfrom competing on an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/so-easy-i-was-cruising-teammate-says-penns-trans-swimmer-boasted-after-destroying-competition\/\" title=\"\u2018So Easy I Was Cruising\u2019: Teammate Says Penn\u2019s Trans Swimmer Boasted After Destroying Competition\">equal playing field<\/a>. This includes advocating for fair and inclusive \u200dballot access laws that give voters a broader range of choices on election\u200d day.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, engaging third-party voters is crucial for \u200da healthy and vibrant democracy. It allows for diverse perspectives and ideas to be represented in the \u200dpolitical\u200d process. By acknowledging the power and potential of third-party voters, candidates can broaden their appeal\u2062 and bring about positive change in our electoral system.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, third-party voters are a \u2064significant and often \u2064overlooked segment of\u200d the electorate. They\u200b have the power to swing elections and bring about \u2062change in our political system. \u2064Engaging these voters requires targeting their specific concerns and needs, \u200das well \u2063as advocating for fair ballot access\u2064 laws. \u2064By recognizing and embracing the influence\u200b of third-party voters, candidates can create a more inclusive and representative democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over 35 million U.S. voters, the third-party or &#8220;unaffiliated&#8221; ones, lack the donkey or elephant in the room. They either back another party or reject the Democratic and Republican parties due to political disillusionment. These voters possess considerable influence in determining election outcomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":2054743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2054742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2054742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2054743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2054742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2054742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2054742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}