Froma Harrop is a syndicated columnist whose work appears in 200 newspapers. Her most recent column focuses on the fact that independent candidates for Governor this year are doing very well in the polls in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maine. Thanks to Peter Gemma for the link.
NONPARTISAN Approval Voting for all elected executive officers and all judges — even the SCOTUS folks.
An Independent candidate can be very appealing to voters as part of a general ‘anti-party’ sentiment that comes and goes in America.
The downside is that an Independent candidate does not have a political party to help them out and may not readily find support from interest groups.
From the perspective of voters, without a party label or philosophy id on the ballot, some voters may have little or no idea what the candidates stands for or pledges to do policy-wise.
Sometimes just voting against Democrats and Republicans is all there is. Since both major parties have been just awful in power the past decade, voting for an independent candidate has more appeal than usual in the upcoming election cycle. I agree that it would be better to have a new party with a consistent philosophy but just getting rid of the incumbents is a decent start.
Past decade ???????????
Past half century ………..