By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Capitol Times
A study by Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute of Public Policy showed that registered independents, who last year became the largest bloc of voters in the state, overwhelmingly view themselves as moderates, are issue-driven and, perhaps most importantly, don’t exercise the political muscle they have in elections.
According to the study, conducted on behalf of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, 73 percent of the 1,200 registered independents surveyed described themselves as political moderates, compared to nearly 15 percent who said they were conservative and 12 percent who said they were liberal. About a quarter of independents who identified as conservative or liberal said they usually vote along party lines, compared to about 13 percent for the moderates.
