The Swing Vote
As our country’s politicians engage in bitter partisan battles, focused on protecting their own jobs but not on doing the nation’s business, and political pundits shout louder and shriller to improve their ratings, it’s no wonder that Americans have little faith in their government. But is America as divided as the politicians and talking heads would have us believe? Do half of Americans stand on the right and the other half on the left with a no-man’s-land between them?
Hardly. Forty percent of all American voters are Independents who occupy the ample political and ideological space in the center. These Americans are anything but divided, and they’re being ignored. These Independents make up the largest voting bloc in the nation and have determined the outcome of every election since World War II. Every year their numbers grow, as does the unconscionable disconnect between them and the officials who are supposed to represent them.
The Swing Vote: The Untapped Power of Independents tells the story of how our polarized political system is not only misrepresenting America but failing it. Killian paints a vivid portrait of the swing voters around the country and presents a new model that reveals who they are and what they want from their government and elected officials.
In “The Swing Vote” she focuses on four states that will be critical in the 2012 election – New Hampshire, Virginia, Ohio and Colorado – and offers a new model of the swing voters, breaking them into four distinct demographic groups:
- NPR REPUBLICANS – Socially moderate and fiscally conservative, these voters, who have been known as ‘Rockefeller Republicans’, are frustrated by overspending and mismanagement of government. But they are also turned off by the GOP’s alignment with the religious right and its focus on social issues like abortion and gay rights.
- AMERICA FIRST DEMOCRATS – Previously known as ‘Reagan Democrats,’ these voters, largely male working class, have been hit hard by the recession and by Republican taxation and trade policies. But they also think Democrats don’t stand up for traditional American values both at home and abroad. They tend to be more conservative than the Democratic Party on social issues.
- THE FACEBOOK GENERATION – Voters under the age of thirty-five, who register as Independents in a higher percentage than any other age group. They mistrust politicians of both parties and want more than two choices.
- STARBUCKS MOMS AND DADS – The largest and most important Independent/Swing voting bloc, these suburban and exurban voters are skeptical of big government and turned off by extremism in both parties. A huge and vitally important group. They decide elections.
In “The Swing Vote,” Killian looks beyond the polls and the headlines and talks with the frustrated citizens around the country who are raising the alarm about the acute bi-polarity, special interest-influence, and gridlock in Congress, asking why Obama’s postpartisan presidency is anything but, and demanding realism, honest negotiation, and a sense of responsibility from their elected officials.
Linda Killian hosts a launch of her new book, “The Swing Vote” at The Wilson Center in Washington, DC.
Praise for "The Swing Vote"
“Linda Killian has been an acute observer of national politics for over two decades, first winning renown for her path-breaking book on the GOP freshman class of ’94. She now brings similar insight and shoe-leather reporting to one of the least understood groups in America – swing voters – who will likely hold the key to 2012 and beyond.”
— David Gergen, Senior Political Analyst for CNN and New York Times Bestselling Author of “Eyewitness to Power”
“Linda Killian helps us understand who the swing voters who decide elections are and what they are looking for. Killian’s analysis provides a valuable guide on harnessing their collective energy into a new way of thinking about politics.”
— Eleanor Clift, contributor Newsweek and Daily Beast
“Linda Killian has written a lively and insightful book about the current state of American politics, melding the best skills of a journalist, a social scientist, a pollster, and a passionate citizen.…With Congress’s disapproval rating at an all-time high, and a ‘plague on both houses’ sentiment exploding in the country, it is hard to imagine a more timely book.”
— Norman J. Ornstein, author of The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track
“Linda Killian does a great job of not only examining the importance and historic role of those Independent and moderate swing voters who live between the partisan and ideological forty-yard lines, but she examines their mind-sets as well. What makes swing voters tick, what swings them and why? An understanding of swing voters leads to an understanding of the volatility and the turbulence that drove the 2006, 2008, and 2010 elections and will likely drive 2012 as well.”
— Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report and political analyst for NBC News.
“[Linda’s] book – which makes the case that you and I have much more power than we know – is an important and timely read.”
— Michael Charney, Author of “Chasing Glenn Beck” (Read the full review on Amazon.com.)
CNN’s John Avlon calls “The Swing Vote: The Untapped Power of Independents” one of “the best political policy books of this presidential season.” “The growing ranks of nonpartisan-political-reform literature (including The Swing Vote) will only become more valuable when this election is over and we begin focusing on an even more urgent mission: how to heal hyperpartisanship and begin governing again in the national interest.”
— John Avlon, CNN
The Pew Research Center estimates that there are more independent voters now than at any time over the past 75 years. Experts on voting offer several explanations. Some voters’ lives are simply too full to give politics much attention, and they aren’t involved enough to identify with a party. Diminishing trust in institutions is another factor in eroding party loyalty, particularly among younger voters, specialists say. And then there’s the growing dysfunction of Washington, the disgust with polarized, party-first politics. Rejecting both Democrats and Republicans can feel like a modest but winnable protest. “They don’t trust the political system,” says journalist Linda Killian, a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington and author of The Swing Vote: The Untapped Power of Independents. “They don’t trust money in politics. They want compromise. They want results. They don’t want partisan yapping.”
— Scott Helman, “How will independents factor into the Brown-Warren Senate race?, The Boston Globe, September 30, 2012.
