Independents Aren’t Happy With Trump—What Does That Mean For The Midterms?

Sure.

Well, independents are the largest and fastest growing group of voters in America.

It's now 48%, according to CNN.

There's a lot of misunderstanding about them, though.

The typical understanding is that they're moderates, that they're in the middle, they're in between the Democrats and Republicans.

It's exactly the opposite.

Independents have no ideological cohesion.

There's conservative independence, socialist independence, libertarian, liberal, conservative, you name it.

What binds them together is values, not ideology.

So if you talk to independents, what they will say is I might be a socialist independent or a conservative independent, but what I want is the ability of elected leaders to work together across the aisle to solve the problems our country is facing.

So I don't want partisan warriors that just exacerbate problems and divide the country.

I want people from the left, the right, to be able to work together to move the country forward.

I think that distinction is really important, right, that independents aren't just moderates.

They're not just Goldilocks for something's too hot, too cold, just right in the middle.

They are progressive.

They are super conservative, as you're saying, but they share this value system.

So I am curious, when it comes to that value system, what values are really going to matter most on November 3rd?

I think that, and again, this comes from years of organizing independence and also some new polling of independence.

So I speak both from polls, but from practical experience building coalitions of independent voters to enact open primaries.

That's what I do professionally.

The values as I would say it are as follows.

There is a deep, deep American love and respect for fairness, for a level playing field, for everyone who is an American citizen should be able to fully participate.

And a lot of what is happening right now is that if you don't join a private club, the Democrats and Republicans are private organizations.

If you don't join those private clubs, you don't get to vote in the primaries in many states.

You don't have representation on the Federal Election Commission, the boards of elections.