Can Democrats win without the majority of voters? The Independents.

[kpola12]

If the Democratic candidate does not excite the independent voters they will either vote for someone else or not vote at all. I don't think Hillary excites anyone except card carrying Democrats. A President Trump is becoming more likely every time Democrats restrict the votes of Independents in their primaries.

[stonecutter357]

1. Welcome to DU!

[msongs]

2. hillary will do just fine with independents. next? nt

[DFab420]

6. Do you have the polls to back that assumption up?

[JaneyVee]

19. Here ya go:

Btw, recent polls have Hillary beating Trump in Georgia, Arizona, and Mississippi.

[DFab420]

26. That's very interesting. Does this include just their polling data or is it aggregate?

[leftofcool]

3. If you feel the need to Trump Hump please go to freeperville

Hillary will have plenty of indies in the GE.

[DFab420]

5. Do you have the polls to back that assumption up?

[kpola12]

13. https://news.vice.com/article/independent-voters-are-pissed-they-cant-vote-for-trump-or-sanders-in-n

[JaneyVee]

18. Yes:

[kpola12]

24. I have been to a couple of Bernie ralleys and was amazed with the excitement.

Polls here in Utah, for what they are worth, said that Bernie could turn Utah blue. The first time in 50 years. It is my own experience that creates most of my assumptions.

[DFab420]

4. Haha dangerous topic for your first few posts. The HRC crowd is out en-mass

[Dawgs]

31. Yep, all 12 of them are working hard today.

Must pay well.

[emulatorloo]

7. Sane Democrats and Indies will not allow Trump anywhere near the White House

Nor will Republicans who rejected Vice President Palin in '08. He's Palin in a suit.

[SharonClark]

8. She'll be fine with Dems, no parties and sane republicans

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. They said they don't need indies.

And they would never lie to us.

[onehandle]

10. Now that we are in the General Election, OPs like this are not helpful. nt

[sadoldgirl]

12. I am so sorry, I must have slept

while CA voted.

[oldandhappy]

16. giggle

I have been asking to be allowed to vote for weeks now.

[MineralMan]

25. Why wouldn't you be allowed to vote?

Is your state cancelling its primary election? I hadn't heard of any that were doing that. I'm guessing you'll be able to vote as planned and for the candidate of your choice. As is often the case, California may not be the deciding state, though.

[oldandhappy]

34. oops, not a complete statement, sorry.

I am in CA. Our primary is in June. Here on DU there have been requests for weeks for us to unify and come together and all that stuff and now calls for Skinner to 'call it'. When I say I want to be allowed to vote, I mean I want the primary season to be completed before all of that happens. I know some people voted in their primaries months ago and they are impatient. I have been waiting all those months! CA rarely is the deciding state -- too far along in the process.

But it is fun to live in this time zone. I remember the election when Obama was elected the first time. So many polls had closed and so many votes counted that by the time the polls closed on the west coast at 8 pm the TV called Obama at the 8 pm hour. It was exciting.

[MineralMan]

35. I lived in California for over 50 years.

So, I'm familiar with its primary not mattering much in presidential elections. When it does, though, it matters a lot. This year won't be one of those years. Still, I went to the polls every time and cast my vote. I always have and always will.

[bkkyosemite]

14. We are NOT in the GE

[CrowCityDem]

11. Wrong. They're a plurality (if you don't believe many are Dems anyway), not a majority.

[oldandhappy]

15. An interesting graphics recently

showed Independents are either right leaning or left learning and it was pretty evenly split. The left leaning nearly always vote left and the right leaning nearly always vote right. Only about 12% (as I remember) were really Independent even tho the national registration statistics show a much larger number. Probably the election will come down to the true Independent voters in Florida and Ohio. I agree with you re the DNC restricting the votes of Independents in their primaries. The GE is open! smile I think the final break out will not be as far from normal as some others think. Then on the other hand I have no idea what manipulations DNC has in mind for the GE so all I have said may be hot air.

[JaneyVee]

22. I read that recently too; independents split about even left/right, with...

Small percent of actual indies.

[Skink]

17. Right leaning independents might vote HRC

Depends on who the Repubs nominate. They are looking like the more sane party at the moment.

We Dems However are about to nominate someone less likely to win in November.

[emulatorloo]

30. In what way does the GOP seem like 'the more sane party' to independents?

Curious about your take on this.

I do understand that some indies are former Republicans, but not all are.

[Skink]

32. The party is trying to stop Trump

Whereas HRC comes with so much baggage and is less popular than her primary opponent. Yet the Democratic Party doesn't see this.

[emulatorloo]

33. That makes a lot of sense.

But in the end I don't think they will succeed in stopping him.

[onenote]

41. The repub establishment are trying to stop Trump because they know he will lose and take down a lot

of other repubs in the process. And that's the case no matter who he runs against.

[sufrommich]

20. The vast majority of independents lean democratic

or republican. They can be counted on to vote accordingly.

[Sheepshank]

21. Please don't spread the lie that ALL Indies are Bernie or Bust.

[coyote]

23. Hillary bros say they got this.

So don't worry about the independents.

[99Forever]

27. In a word:

No.

[Codeine]

28. The notion that indies who voted Sanders

aren't going to be willing to vote Clinton is fundamentally flawed. "I loved the anti-capitalist rhetoric from Senator Sanders but what the hell -- Trump it is!" is a massively silly leap of logic.

[Fresh_Start]

29. Do you have any polls that show that independent voters will support Sanders after

6 months of GOP negative ads?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

36. my MIL is an independent, she's excited by HRC

it's funny that the primaries have been this way since the 70's and yet this is the first time people have gotten bent out of shape for closed primaries.

[seaglass]

37. I don't think you know what you are talking about. My husband and I are both "independents"

(called unerolled in MA).

We will both be voting for Hillary. The majority of voters in MA are unenrolled. Do you think MA is going Republican?

[ContinentalOp]

38. Independents aren't a monolith.

You have many different types such as...

- indies who always vote for democrats. no reason to believe they won't vote for Clinton if they voted for Obama, Kerry, Gore, etc.

- those who always vote for republicans. don't need em

- people who vote green, libertarian, etc. Some might have voted for Sanders, but if they've never voted Dem in the past, we don't really need them.

- people in the center who actually flip back and forth between parties depending on the candidate. Don't you think Clinton is better positioned to get those folks than Sanders?

[procon]

39. People also choose to register as Independent because of their state's voting restrictions.

Now, to avoid confusion, I'm not referring to the various political parties that file under the name of Independent, but to the unaligned voter who choose not to select any party affiliation. I've been unaligned since I first registered to vote, primarily because I resented having to join a private club to participate in public policy decisions that were a civil duty.

Voting is different in every state. If "Democrats restrict the votes of Independents in their primaries" in your state, in California we can still vote for Dems, but the Republican primary is closed to everyone except registered Republicans. You can't assume that many Independent voters don't lean left, or that they are actually de facto Democrats in all but name.

[jamese777]

40. CBS News Poll

"Independents vote Democratic against both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz no matter which candidate runs against them. Trump does particularly poorly with independents, losing them by 18 points against Clinton and 26 points against Sanders."
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-poll-hillary-clinton-leads-donald-trump-but-voters-view-both-unfavorably/