Clinton's Lead Over Trump Shrinks to 3 Points: New NBC News/WSJ Poll

[Orrex]

103. Yes, Independents have always made that claim.

It can be paraphrased as "We're the REAL Democrats, and to prove it we're leaving the party," and I see it on DU at least twice a day. Everyone fancies themselves to represent "real" integrity and "real" values, and that's nice.

Well, I've got news for you: no candidate on any ticket during my electoral lifetime has "reflected the values that I value." At best, some have reflected some of my values, so like a mature human being able to compromise, I select the candidate who represents most of my values.

High-minded Independents cluck their tongues and dismiss this as "the lesser of two evils" (this, too, is demonstrated several times daily on DU). But Sanders himself is no saint, and he's plenty fond of drone strikes and F-35 cashcows, so you're lying to yourself if you pretend that he's anything but one among a field of evils. What you're doing is exactly what everyone else is doing: you're picking the evil that you are best able to stomach, but you're convincing yourself that this makes you "independent" instead of just like everyone else.

If and when Independents do become a statistically significant and reliable base of voters, you can bet that the dominant parties will court them, as Trump is currently courting Independents.

But as long as they are unreliable (and they still are) and as long as it's unclear that they're sure to show up at the polls (and it is), then Independents will remain a strategic footnote.