Independents' Day

Why "undeclared" voters could well be this year's kingmakers

Roberto Schmidt / AFP

A US citizen deposits their voter authorization card into a bin after they cast their vote

As the presidential primary season moves on from Iowa, where intensely partisan Democratic and Republican electors dominate the process, the candidates are retooling their messages to appeal to a different kind of voter. In the next round of contests, voters unaffiliated with either party have the potential to determine the outcome, thanks to election rules in states like New Hampshire, Michigan and South Carolina, where independents can vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries. Suddenly it seems that independents could well be the kingmakers, the voters whose preferences decide both the Republican and Democratic nominees for...

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