Independents: America’s Largest Voting Bloc

INDEPENDENTS: AMERICA’S LARGEST VOTING BLOC WITH JACKIE SALIT AND JOHN OPDYCKE

Independent voters make up well over 40 percent of the voting public. But you wouldn’t know that from media coverage, which focuses almost exclusively on red vs. blue. Independents are often overlooked and misunderstood by political professionals, journalists, and pundits.

In this podcast episode, we look at this group of voters and learn why they’re disillusioned with the two main political parties. The number of American voters who identify as independent is at a record high.

Our guests are Jackie Salit and John Opdycke. Jackie is the author of Independents Rising and president of Independent Voting, an organization dedicated to bringing respect, recognition, and reform to independent voters. John Opdycke is president of Open Primaries, which campaigns for primary elections in which every American can vote, not just Republicans or Democrats.