[EL] CA Republicans MIGHT (or might not) be outnumbered by "No Party Preference"

[Kogan, Vladimir]

We should be careful about reading too much into the rise of so-called “unaffiliated” voters. Most of them are in fact affiliated, and are just unwilling to self-identify as such for social desirability reasons.

Here is a recent book by Samara Klar<https://sgpp.arizona.edu/user/samara-klar> and Yanna Krupnikov<https://www.yannakrupnikov.com/> on this very topic: https://www.amazon.com/Independent-Politics-American-Political-Inaction-ebook/dp/B01B1G84CM

“The number of independent voters in America increases each year, yet they remain misunderstood by both media and academics. Media describe independents as pivotal for electoral outcomes. Political scientists conclude that independents are merely 'undercover partisans': people who secretly hold partisan beliefs and are thus politically inconsequential. Both the pundits and the political scientists are wrong, argue the authors. They show that many Americans are becoming embarrassed of their political party. They deny to pollsters, party activists, friends, and even themselves, their true partisanship, instead choosing to go 'undercover' as independents. Independent Politics demonstrates that people intentionally mask their partisan preferences in social situations. Most importantly, breaking with decades of previous research, it argues that independents are highly politically consequential. The same motivations that lead people to identify as independent also diminish their willingness to engage in the types of political action that sustain the grassroots movements of American politics.”

I highly recommend the book!

Vlad

[The Ohio State University]
Vladimir Kogan, Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
2004 Derby Hall | 154 N. Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210-1373
510/415-4074 Mobile
614/292-9498 Office
614/292-1146 Fax
http://u.osu.edu/kogan.18/
kogan.18 at osu.edu<mailto:kogan.18 at osu.edu>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20180531/4ff209d3/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 3605 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20180531/4ff209d3/attachment.png>