In all this early voting no one has said how the independent voters are voting

[bigdarryl]

even how many of those republican early voters are voting for Obama

[RBInMaine]

1. Polling is at least showing a good shift to Obama among Indies since the storm.

[bigdarryl]

4. I know that but I'm talking about the early voters who are voting NOW

who call themselves independent

[VirginiaTarheel]

2. There is no way to know for sure until Election Day

but polling this week showed a shift toward Obama.

[Blue Idaho]

3. Good point!

I wonder if anyone outside the campaigns is doing early voting exit polling?

[longship]

5. How would they know how anybody voted?

They track party and that's all they know. AFAIK, no ballots are counted until polls close on election day. And then, party affiliation is washed away by the inherently anonymous nature of the ballot.

If a voter declares a party and votes early one can presume that that person votes for their declared party, something that cannot be inferred from an independent.

So there is no connection possible between a declared independent's ballot and how they vote by way of the ballots.

However, people can be asked how they voted. So here's where polling comes in, with all the flaws inherent in that.

Election commissions publish voter lists which are public records, a possible source for early voter polling.

Just my take on this.