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Within the past decade, independents have become the fastest-growing group of voters in the United States. Forty percent of Americans register as “independent” voters each year, and at least 3.4 million Californians alone have registered as “decline to state” voters instead of choosing a political party to belong to. In some states, such as Massachusetts, the number of independent voters outnumbers registered Republicans and Democrats combined. Not surprisingly, the independent vote has been decisive in several major elections, most notably the 2008 Presidential election. Two years ago most independents supported President Obama and leaned toward progressive politics after the 8-year long Bush era. But now, according to a poll released by Politico and George Washington University on October 25th, independents favor Republicans over Democrats by 14 points. The same poll found that 66% of respondents do not approve of Obama’s healthcare policies and 62% are dissatisfied with the Administration’s economic policies. The non-partisan organization IndependentVoice.org claims to represent the interests of California’s 3.4 million independent voters. In the upcoming mid-term elections, IndependentVoice.org has endorsed the Republican contender for Lieutenant Governor, Abel Maldonado and has also taken strong positions on Propositions 20 and 27 on next week’s ballot.

GUEST: Jim Mangia, Chair of IndependentVoice.org, the nation’s largest organization of independent voters

Find out more at www.IndependentVoice.org.