Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

America’s future rests with independent and swing voters

Republican, Democratic and independent options
selimaksan/Getty Images

Corbin is professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.

It’s well known America’s first president warned citizens – on Sept. 17, 1796 – about the negative impact political parties could have on the country. In George Washington’s farewell address he felt politicians and their party of preference could become “unprincipled.”

The divisiveness our political parties and their operative sons and daughters have purposely brought upon America is disheartening and shameful.

With the 2022 midterm elections about eight weeks away the negative partisanship ads have already begun. It’s a sad state of affairs we have to endure disinformation, misinformation and political shenanigans every two years.

A recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll noted 55 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of Republicans believe it is “likely” that the US will “cease to be a democracy in the future.” An Aug. 12-16 NBC News poll revealed 21 percent of registered voters rank “threats to democracy” as the most important issue.

The democracy time bomb is ticking.


This should be a wake-up call to anyone who identifies as a proud American and values unity, individualism, equality, self-government, liberty and diversity.

Therefore, it could be argued the outcome of the Nov. 8 elections will let us know in advance of the 2024 presidential election whether we’ll continue to live in a “will of the people” democracy or if America will fall to fascism.

According to Gallup, 43 percent of voters are independent, 30 percent are Democratic and 24 percent say they are Republican.

Party diehards who view their party policies as the gospel will blindly vote for their candidate – just like lemmings who can’t think on their own accord – even if she or he is the devil.

Dr. Rachel Bitecofer, founding editor of The Cycle and revered election forecaster and analyst, feels 6 percent to 7 percent of swing voters (people who vote for a candidate opposite their registered party) affect every election. Plus, she notes 6 percent of independents “tend to vote for whoever promises a break with the status quo.”

 Independent voters are independent for a reason. They know we have a deeply divided and antagonistic political system. According to a Pew Research Center survey, about two-thirds of independents are swing voters because “both parties care more about special interests than about average Americans.”

Linda Killian, a senior scholar at the nonpartisan Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, notes about half of the independents are closet Democrats/Republicans who vote regularly with one party. The remaining 50 percent are truly independent with their allegiance swinging from election to election.

While Bitecofer, Gallup, Pew and Killian can’t agree as to the precise number of swing and independent voters, the message is the same: somewhere between 38 million and 65 million voters are sick and tired of our political party propaganda peddlers.

Recognizing that independents detest negative campaign ads, today’s negative partisanship ads by the GOP and Democrats may drive independents to be even more serious about voting than heretofore. And, we know a lot of card-carrying Democrats and Republicans aren’t too pleased with their party, former politicians’ bold-face lies and antics, and current elected officials actions, let alone their non-actions.

It would be wise for every registered voter to take the Nov. 8 election seriously as it may – just may – give us an advance warning as to whether America will remain as a democracy or fall to fascism in 2024.

What type of citizen will you be on Nov. 8? A sit-at-home, nonparticipating voter, a party lemming, a swing voter or an independent voter? Your heirs and our country’s future are dependent upon your precious vote, whether you view voting as a fundamental right or a privilege with responsibilities.

Read More

Is Bombing Iran Deja Vu All Over Again?

The B-2 "Spirit" Stealth Bomber flys over the 136th Rose Parade Presented By Honda on Jan. 1, 2025, in Pasadena, California. (Jerod Harris/Getty Images/TNS)

Jerod Harris/Getty Images/TNS)

Is Bombing Iran Deja Vu All Over Again?

After a short and successful war with Iraq, President George H.W. Bush claimed in 1991 that “the ghosts of Vietnam have been laid to rest beneath the sands of the Arabian desert.” Bush was referring to what was commonly called the “Vietnam syndrome.” The idea was that the Vietnam War had so scarred the American psyche that we forever lost confidence in American power.

The elder President Bush was partially right. The first Iraq war was certainly popular. And his successor, President Clinton, used American power — in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere — with the general approval of the media and the public.

Keep ReadingShow less
Conspiratorial Thinking Isn’t Growing–Its Consequences Are
a close up of a typewriter with the word conspiracy on it

Conspiratorial Thinking Isn’t Growing–Its Consequences Are

The Comet Ping Pong Pizzagate shooting, the plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and a man’s livestreamed beheading of his father last year were all fueled by conspiracy theories. But while the headlines suggest that conspiratorial thinking is on the rise, this is not the case. Research points to no increase in conspiratorial thinking. Still, to a more dangerous reality: the conspiracies taking hold and being amplified by political ideologues are increasingly correlated with violence against particular groups. Fortunately, promising new research points to actions we can take to reduce conspiratorial thinking in communities across the US.

Some journalists claim that this is “a golden age of conspiracy theories,” and the public agrees. As of 2022, 59% of Americans think that people are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories today than 25 years ago, and 73% of Americans think conspiracy theories are “out of control.” Most blame this perceived increase on the role of social media and the internet.

Keep ReadingShow less
Why a College Degree No Longer Guarantees a Good Job
woman wearing academic cap and dress selective focus photography
Photo by MD Duran on Unsplash

Why a College Degree No Longer Guarantees a Good Job

A college education used to be considered, along with homeownership, one of the key pillars of the American Dream. Is that still the case? Recent experiences of college graduates seeking employment raise questions about whether a university diploma remains the best pathway to pursuing happiness, as it once was.

Consider the case of recent grad Lohanny Santo, whose TikTok video went viral with over 3.6 million “likes” as she broke down in tears and vented her frustration over her inability to find even a minimum wage job. That was despite her dual degrees from Pace University and her ability to speak three languages. John York, a 24-year-old with a master’s degree in math from New York University, writes that “it feels like I am screaming into the void with each application I am filling out.”

Keep ReadingShow less