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Political scientists and party pollsters run with a common narrative: Independent voters are a myth. "We think of them as closet partisans who act in almost indistinguishable ways to those who identify as partisans," Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth explains in a recent National Journal article. There is a group of independent voters, however, that defy this reasoning. Here are the top 30 reasons why, despite the partisan narrative, independent voters are not a myth: 1. Forty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW9qW-7WETo When Cory Booker became the newest member of Congress last week after winning New Jersey’s special senatorial election, he joined a legislative body that was, at the moment of his election, shutdown. Embattled in a fight over the budget and whether to fund the president’s health care law, the government had been shut down for over two weeks. On the Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazalon noted that it was indeed an “inauspicious beginning” to Booker’s n

New Jersey’s special Senate election, one of the most controversial and high profile races in the country, is now nearing its much-anticipated conclusion. In less than 24 hours, Garden State voters will be asked to choose between two very distinct, extremely polarizing candidates—Democratic Mayor Cory Booker and Republican Mayor Steve Lonegan—politicians who couldn’t be farther apart in regards to their views on social issues and fiscal policy. What was once dismissed as a throwaway campaign, a

Few people have been talking about how the Syrian conflict will affect the 2016 presidential elections, but there is a high chance that it will. Regardless of this new agreement between the United States and Russia to take Assad's chemical weapons out of play, the civil war will continue. People on both sides will continue to die. And in the United States, the debate about intervention may be on pause, but the situation in Syria remains in the backs of many minds. In a purely political sense, th

Zack Frank / shutterstock.com New Hampshire proves to be one of the more innovative states in its electoral process. In its House of Representatives, districts are allotted a number of representatives to serve based on their population. Some districts have only one representative, but others have as many as eleven. They are elected through a process of multi-member district voting, where the citizenry casts as many votes as there are seats to be filled instead of voting for each seat separatel

Nonprofit VOTE examined the impact of nonprofit organizations on voter behavior within seven states in an August 2013 study. It found that those contacted by a nonprofit organization -- in regards to the election -- turned out at 74 percent while 68 percent of all registered voters turned out. The data from the study suggests that nonprofit organizations fight an uphill battle when trying to increase turnout since their target audience has a historically low propensity to vote. However, nonpro

Source: Wall Street Journal Voter turnout in the New Jersey special election primary last night was higher than expected, with over 300,000 people casting their ballots on a rainy day in the middle of the summer. As expected, Cory Booker easily won the Democratic primary on Tuesday. The Associated Press called the election just 45 minutes after the polls closed and only seven percent of precincts reporting. He will face Republican Steve Lonegan in the October special election to decide who wi

Dear IVN Readers, While much of the mainstream media is covering the same old stories with tired talking points, check out some of the discussions on IVN, like: The Alternative Minimum Tax is and how it affects the Middle Class? Did the Supreme Court just rule that cell phone companies own your personal information? What do the results of the special election in New Jersey mean to the rest of us? As always, we look forward to seeing you on IVN.us. - Shawn and the IVN Team What You Missed

(Credit: Gage Skidmore) Not more than two weeks after he tried to defund the National Security Agency's (NSA) surveillance programs of Americans, US Rep. Justin Amash claims documents were withheld by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) related to the program. Amash claimed that the committee withheld a declassified 2011 document that explained in general terms the program he was seeking to defund. Amash said on his Facebook page that members elected in 2010, of which

Credit: Vice.com A Quinnipiac poll shows Newark Mayor Cory Booker leading the New Jersey Senate race with 54 percent of likely Democratic voters. Booker is well ahead of Republican front-runner Steve Lonegan 54 to 29 percent in a projected general election matchup. The U.S. Senate seat was vacated when Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, passed away in early June due to complications from pneumonia. The Quinnipiac poll found: "Newark Mayor Cory Booker has a seemingly unbeatable lead in next week's