Poll: 60% Say They Are Likely to Vote for an Independent Candidate Rather than a Democrat or Republican

At USA Today, Susan Page reports that "independents are gaining favor in governors' races" in the northeast. The article focuses exclusively on the candidacies of Eliot Cutler in Maine, Tim Cahill in Massachusetts and Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island, and devotes the most attention to Republican-turned-Independent Chafee. Page writes:

Gubernatorial candidates Cutler, Chafee and Tim Cahill of Massachusetts promise straight talk and tough love in a year when both parties are viewed unfavorably by most Americans. Sixty percent of those surveyed in the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll say they are very or somewhat likely to vote for an independent candidate this fall, signaling at the least an openness to the idea.

The article provides the breakdown of the poll question in the sidebar. From the USA Today/Gallup poll:

How likely are you to vote for an independent candidate for federal or state office this year instead of a Democrat or Republican?

Very likely: 18%
Somewhat likely: 42%
Not too likely: 19%
Not at all likely 18%
No opinion: 3%

So, 60% of respondents say they are very likely or somewhat likely to vote Independent rather than Republican or Democrat! That is a strikingly high number. An NBC/WSJ poll from last month found that 25% of respondents would be likely to vote for an "independent or third party candidate" rather than a Democrat or Republican, though 46% were open to the idea. One would be justified in wondering whether the inclusion of the term 'third party candidate' depressed potential affirmative responses due to the popular stigma attached to third party politics by the ideologues of the Democratic and Republican parties. But, if the USA Today/Gallup poll is to be believed, the ideologues of the Democratic and Republican parties appear to be a dying breed: only 37% stated they were not likely to vote for an independent rather than a Democrat or Republican. These are the dead-enders of the duopoly parties, the partisans of the global warfare and corporate welfare state.