Proper Placement Of Independent-Leaners In The Partisan Identification Scale: Data From Two Arkansas Samples

Abstract

What is an independent-leaner? More than a generation has passed since the Michigan NES/CPS group established its now standard, seven-point scale of classification of partisan identifiers [Campbell, et. al. 1960]; yet, suddenly, the correct way to conceptualize the different types of independent identifiers and interpret their behavior has re-emerged as an unresolved problem for students of political behavior.