Independents, Libertarians and Trust in Our Elected Officials

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Many Independents might be libertarians: fiscally conservative and socially liberal (by W. E. Messamore, CAIVN) 'So, if many of these centrist, independent voters are indeed libertarians, why aren't libertarians better recognized? First, the word "libertarian" is still unfamiliar — even to many who hold "fiscally conservative, socially liberal" views. Pollsters rarely use it. So in polls, many libertarians call themselves "conservative," "independent" or "moderate" — making it hard for analysts to recognize them.'
• Majority of Americans Do Not Trust President Obama or His Economic Advisors to Handle Budget Deficit -Even larger majorities do not trust Speaker Boehner, Congressional Republicans or Congressional Democrats (Harris Poll Press Release) Independents, however, do not trust anyone. Just two in five trust President Obama (43%), 36% trust his economic advisors, 31% trust Speaker Boehner, 28% trust Republicans in Congress and 22% trust Democrats in Congress.

2012

• Pawlenty campaigns in northwest Iowa (by Radio Iowa) “Independents, people who are, you know, going to decide the election in large measure, have really figured out that he has not turned the country around like he promised.The economy continues to do very poorly and they don’t favor his reelection,” Pawlenty says.
• Doug Schoen: Democrats Fear Christie Entering Presidential Race (By: Jim Meyers and Ashley Martella, Newsmax.com) “The American people are looking for fresh faces and if somebody like Chris Christie got into the race, I think there is a real chance that there could be a boomlet of excitement that could catapult him pretty quickly to the top of the polls.”