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110-687: The events at and around the Democratic national convention of 1968 left the party in disarray, unable to support its nominee and divided over matters of both substance and procedure. The 1968 convention was disastrous for the Democrats, as much because of the demonstrations and violent police responses outside the convention hall as because of the convention itself. What took place in Chicago went well beyond party leaders' ignoring one candidate, Eugene McCarthy , who could claim to have demonstrated his appeal to voters in

220-456: A candidate, "I'm twice as liberal as Hubert Humphrey , twice as intelligent as Stuart Symington , and twice as Catholic as Jack Kennedy ." He was considered as a possible running mate for Lyndon Johnson in 1964, only to see fellow Minnesota Senator Humphrey chosen for that position. McCarthy voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 , the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ,

330-694: A code breaker for the United States Department of War during World War II . McCarthy became a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (the state affiliate of the Democratic Party) and in 1948 was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served until being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1958. McCarthy was a prominent supporter of Adlai Stevenson II for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960, and

440-446: A collection of poetry in 1997, Cool Reflections: Poetry For The Who, What, When, Where and Especially Why of It All ( ISBN   1-57553-595-5 ). McCarthy and his wife, Abigail Quigley McCarthy , had five children, Christopher Joseph (April 30, 1946 – April 30, 1946), Ellen Anne, Mary Abigail (April 29, 1949 – July 28, 1990), Michael Benet, and Margaret Alice. In 1969, McCarthy separated from his wife after 24 years of marriage, but

550-435: A contrary view emerged: The independent usually voted on the basis of deeply ingrained beliefs, attitudes and loyalties, and is more like the strongly partisan voter than any other voter (or the idealized "independent"). By the 1960s, scholars attempted to define the independent based on behavior, rather than party identification or loyalty. Focusing on ticket splitters , these studies depicted an independent voter who had

660-612: A cynical attitude toward him, largely because the lack of money in his campaign made it highly skeptical of what he could achieve, describing McCarthy as "a second-rate politician with little experience or money" in its analysis of the presidential election published in their Army Newspaper dated August 10, 1968. McCarthy returned to politics as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 , but he fared poorly in New Hampshire and Wisconsin and soon dropped out. Illinois

770-561: A decline in accountability (and thus even less responsiveness and less democracy). The " Imperial Presidency " becomes more important, since single officeholders with great power become the only politicians capable of governing. Other scholars have concluded that dealignment has not harmed democracy. Political parties have adapted to the realities of large numbers of independent voters, it is argued. The candidate-centered election has actually revitalized parties, and led to new party structures and behaviors which have allowed parties to survive in

880-510: A government including Communists in South Vietnam, and that only the relocation of inner-city blacks would solve the urban problem. Kennedy pounced, portraying the former idea as soft on communism and the latter as a scheme to bus tens of thousands of ghetto residents into white, conservative Orange County . Kennedy won the California primary on June 4, but was shot after his victory speech at

990-730: A monk he left the monastery, causing a fellow novice to say, "It was like losing a 20-game winner ". He enlisted in the Army, serving as a code breaker for the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department in Washington, D.C. in 1944. He was then an instructor in sociology and economics at the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota , from 1946 to 1949. McCarthy became a member of

1100-590: A negotiated political settlement." On December 3, 1967, McCarthy addressed the Conference of Concerned Democrats in Chicago, accusing the Johnson administration of ignoring and bungling opportunities for bringing the war to a conclusion. Eight days later it was reported that he had suggested abandoning some areas of South Vietnam to the Viet Cong . On February 17, 1968, it was reported that McCarthy's campaign had raised only

1210-603: A part in elections, it becomes more and more difficult for parties to forge coalitions of like-minded officeholders. Governmental deadlock becomes common, further encouraging independent voting as citizens perceive "their" party to be ineffective. As ticket-splitting rises, divided government becomes the norm, making it even more difficult for office-holders to enact and implement policies. Politics becomes increasingly volatile, with first one party and then another governing. Although parties once held politicians accountable for their actions, their increasing irrelevance in politics leads to

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1320-866: A plaintiff in the landmark case Buckley v. Valeo , 424 U.S. 1 (1976), in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that certain provisions of federal campaign finance laws were unconstitutional. McCarthy, the New York Civil Liberties Union , philanthropist Stewart Mott , the Conservative Party of New York State , the Mississippi Republican Party , and the Libertarian Party were the plaintiffs in Buckley , becoming key players in killing campaign spending limits and public financing of political campaigns. In 1980 , dismayed by what he saw as

1430-548: A quarter of the funds it had hoped to raise nationally. As his volunteers (led by youth coordinator Sam Brown ) went door to door in New Hampshire, and as the media began paying more serious attention to the senator, McCarthy began to rise in the polls. When he received 42% of the vote to Johnson's 49% in the March 12 New Hampshire primary (and 20 of New Hampshire's 24 delegates to the Democratic convention), it became clear that there

1540-699: A strong-willed man of Irish descent, Michael John McCarthy Jr., a postmaster and cattle buyer. McCarthy grew up in Watkins with his parents and three siblings. He attended St. Anthony's Catholic School in Watkins, and spent hours reading his aunt's Harvard Classics . He was influenced by the monks at nearby St. John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota , and attended school there, at Saint John's Preparatory School , from which he graduated in 1932. He also went to college at Saint John's University , graduating in 1935. McCarthy earned his master's degree from

1650-699: A stronger candidate than McCarthy. On March 31, Johnson surprised the world by announcing that he would not seek reelection. After that, McCarthy won in Wisconsin , where the Kennedy campaign was still getting organized. McCarthy also won in Oregon against a well-organized Kennedy effort; it was considered his first official victory over Kennedy. McCarthy styled himself as a clean politician, but criticized his opponents. Known for his wit, when asked if Michigan Governor George Romney 's comment that Romney had been "brainwashed" about

1760-571: A unidimensional interpretation of the political arena, the measure's failure to function in a multi-party political system , the measure's confusion of the theoretical relationship between partisanship and the intent to vote, question wording errors which confuse a social group with a political party, failure to predict policy (versus candidate) preferences, question order, and failure to measure partisanship accurately when there are sizeable differences in party size all confound accurate measurement of partisanship and independence using this measure. Even

1870-443: A very large body of scholarship has emerged which has attempted to analyze partisanship. Parents appear to be a primary source of political socialization and partisanship. Much of the theoretical basis for this hypothesis emerged from the fields of child psychology and social learning , which studied the ways in which children are socialized and values inculcated in them. Studies of political partisanship have found that partisanship

1980-471: A vice-presidential nominee, but he came to have a total of 15 running mates in states where he was required to have one. At least eight of his running mates were women. Nationally, McCarthy received 740,460 votes, 0.91% of the total, finishing third in the election. His best showing came in Oregon , where he received 40,207 votes, 3.90% of the vote. McCarthy opposed Watergate-era campaign finance laws, becoming

2090-530: A voter who self-describes as an independent. Many voting systems outside of the United States, including the British parliamentary system , do not utilize a party affiliation system as part of their voter registration process; rather, participation in party affairs is based on enrolling as a member within the party itself, and the number of party members is much smaller than the party's total electorate (for example,

2200-412: A withering of political discourse as the sound bite and an emphasis on the horse-race aspect of politics becomes the norm. This limits the amount and kind of information the public receives, leading to less choice for voters. When voters can stay at home and watch television rather than participate in civic life, the public no longer perceives the need to become involved in democracy—and so the civic life of

2310-400: Is deeply affected by the particular candidate running in an election. Voting, therefore, is more reflective of what candidate is running—and therefore a poor measure of partisanship. More recently, scholars focused on self-identification as a good measure of a person's political independence. The value of self-identification as a measure of a person's political independence or partisanship

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2420-402: Is even stronger than it is for presidential and congressional races. Many scholars also say that partisanship is only one of many variables which predict voting choice. A decline in partisanship may have little to no impact on election outcomes, and much depends on fluctuations in these other factors. For more than half a century, the concept of a realigning election —a dramatic shift in

2530-437: Is normal, not a unique and irregular "punctuation" or "surge," it is claimed. Still other scholars claim there are no regional dealignment variations while others argue that the concept of realignment and dealignment is no longer useful in an era in which political parties are no longer very important in the political system. Scholars argue that political parties play a critical supportive role in democracies. Parties regulate

2640-471: Is strongest when both parents have the same political loyalties, these loyalties are strong, both parents have similarly strong party loyalties, and parental partisanship accords with socio-economic status (for example, the wealthy are Republicans or the poor are Labour supporters). Social groups are another source of partisanship. Friends, relatives, and neighbors often have the same partisan loyalties and strengths as one's parents. The more homogeneous

2750-801: Is that it is seen as a proxy for the behavior which should be exhibited by the independent voter. Additionally, self-identification could be easily captured either with a nominal question ("Do you self-identify with an existing political party?", a question which is answered with a "yes" or a "no"), or by a structured ordinal question ("Generally speaking, do you consider yourself a Democrat, a Republican, an independent, or what?"). The first analyses of this measure of political independence found that there were significant differences between those individuals who self-identified as "independent" and those who listed "no preference" as to party identification. Individuals who expressed "no preference" usually exhibited low levels of interest in politics, low levels of knowledge about

2860-734: Is used to describe voters who can change their voting alignment and freedom from political parties. This term may also be applied in referendum votes, such as in the vote for " Brexit ". Dutch politics also uses the term floating voter to describe party non-affiliation. There is a large swing vote in Iran , known as "Party of the Wind" ( Persian : حزب باد , romanized :  Ḥezb-e Bād ), or "grey vote" ( Persian : رأی خاکستری , romanized :  Ra'ye Ḵākestarí ), which can be rapidly excited. Because independent voters do not have strong affectional ties to political parties, scholars who adhere to

2970-660: The 1988 election , McCarthy appeared on the ballot as the presidential candidate of a handful of left-wing state parties, specifically the Consumer parties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and the Minnesota Progressive Party in Minnesota. In his campaign, he supported trade protectionism , Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative and the abolition of the two-party system . He received 30,905 votes. In 1992, returning to

3080-400: The 2000 election , 35 percent of Democratic primaries and 31 percent of Republican primaries are closed to registered party members: 41 percent of Democratic and Republican primaries are open to all registered voters, and the remaining 24 percent and 28 percent of Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively, are characterized by modified-open procedures. A number of authorities criticize

3190-566: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 , the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , and the Medicare program. He did not vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1968 or on the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court . Along with Ted Kennedy , McCarthy was one of the original co-sponsors of the Immigration Act of 1965 . He later regretted this, noting that "unrecognized by virtually all of

3300-623: The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party . In 1948 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives with labor and Catholic support, representing Minnesota's 4th congressional district until 1959. He became the leader of young liberals, predominately from the Midwest, called "McCarthy's Marauders". In 1952 he engaged Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy (no relation) in a nationally televised debate in which he parodied

3410-765: The Social Democratic Party of Germany , which received 12 million votes in the 2021 German federal election , only has 400,000 members). The closest equivalent is the so-called "floater voters" or swing votes , who do not consistently vote for a particular party. The earliest concept of independents is of a person whose political choices, by definition, were made based on issues and candidates (due to lack of party affiliation). Furthermore, early studies of voting behavior conclusively demonstrated that self-identified independent voters are less interested in specific elections than partisan voters, poorly informed about issues and candidates, and less active politically. However,

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3520-495: The United States , is a voter who does not align themselves with a political party . An independent is variously defined as a voter who votes for candidates on issues rather than on the basis of a political ideology or partisanship ; a voter who does not have long-standing loyalty to, or identification with, a political party ; a voter who does not usually vote for the same political party from election to election; or

3630-582: The United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. McCarthy sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1968 election , challenging incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson on an anti- Vietnam War platform. McCarthy unsuccessfully ran for U.S. president four more times. Born in Watkins, Minnesota , McCarthy became an economics professor after earning a graduate degree from the University of Minnesota . He served as

3740-422: The University of Minnesota in 1939. He taught in public schools in Minnesota and North Dakota from 1935 to 1940, when he became a professor of economics and education at St. John's, working there from 1940 to 1943. While at St. John's, he coached the hockey team for one season. In 1943, considering the contemplative life of a monk, he became a Benedictine novice at Saint John's Abbey. After nine months as

3850-688: The Vietnam War had ended Romney's presidential hopes, McCarthy remarked, "Well... no, not really. Anyway, I think in that case a light rinse would have been sufficient." He mocked Kennedy and his supporters. A major gaffe occurred in Oregon, when McCarthy called Kennedy supporters "less intelligent" than his own and belittled Indiana (which had by then gone for Kennedy) for lacking a poet of the stature of Robert Lowell —a friend of McCarthy's who often traveled with him. In May, Kennedy attacked McCarthy's civil rights record. Some of those who joined McCarthy's effort early on were Kennedy loyalists. Now that Kennedy

3960-506: The work week , came out in favor of nuclear disarmament , attacked the Internal Revenue Service , and said whom he would nominate to various Cabinet posts if elected. Mainly, however, he battled ballot access laws he deemed too restrictive and encouraged voters to reject the two-party system . His numerous legal battles during the election, along with a strong grassroots effort in friendly states, allowed him to appear on

4070-475: The 1972 convention and continued to rise to parity with male delegates at following conventions. Black delegates from the south rose from none in 1960, to 10% in 1968, and 24% in 1972. Black delegates continued to increase to account for one-third of the southern delegates at the 1988 convention, with them accounting for 46% of the Deep South's delegates. One of the unintended consequences of McGovern-Fraser reforms

4180-532: The Administration seems to have set no limit to the price it is willing to pay for a military victory." Political experts and the news media dismissed his candidacy, and he was given little chance of making any impact against Johnson in the primaries. But public perception of him changed following the Tet Offensive (January 30 – February 23, 1968), the aftermath of which saw many Democrats grow disillusioned with

4290-609: The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and died soon afterwards. In response, McCarthy refrained from political action for several days. One aide recalled McCarthy sneering about his fallen rival, saying that Kennedy was "demagoguing to the last". Another heard McCarthy say that Kennedy had "brought it on himself"—implying that he had provoked Sirhan Sirhan , the Palestinian gunman convicted of killing him, by promising military support to

4400-583: The Democratic Party, he entered the New Hampshire presidential primary and campaigned for the Democratic nomination , but was excluded from the first televised debate. Along with other candidates who had been excluded from the 1992 Democratic debates (including two-time New Alliance Party presidential candidate Lenora Fulani , former Irvine, California mayor Larry Agran , Billy Jack actor Tom Laughlin , and others), McCarthy staged protests and took unsuccessful legal action in an attempt to be included in

4510-593: The Democratic nomination, the antiwar "New Party", which ran several candidates for president that year, listed him as its nominee on the ballot in Arizona , where he received 2,751 votes, and in Vermont, gaining 579 votes. He also appeared on the Oregon ballot as the New Party choice. He received 20,721 votes as a write-in candidate in California. Despite McCarthy's anti-Vietnam War stance, North Vietnam's Communist government had

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4620-812: The Eugene McCarthy Distinguished Public Service Award. McCarthy's files as U.S. congressman (Democratic Farmer-Labor) from Minnesota's 4th district (1949–1959) and as U.S. senator from Minnesota (1959–1971) are available at the Minnesota History Center for research. They include executive files, general files, legislative files, personal files, political and campaign (including senatorial, vice presidential, and presidential) files, public relations files, sound and visual materials (with photographs), and speeches. Independent (voter) An independent voter , often also called an unaffiliated voter or non-affiliated voter in

4730-528: The Great Depression could realign or dealing partisanship, some scholars reasoned that a series of smaller shocks over time could also dramatically influence the direction and strength of partisanship. Many scholars became convinced that partisanship was not bedrock but shifting sand. Important childhood events (such as becoming aware of a presidential campaign) as well as events in adulthood (such as recessions, war, or shifting racial policies) could also affect

4840-602: The Senator's arguments to "prove" that General Douglas MacArthur had been a communist pawn. In 1958 he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He served as a member of (among other committees) the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee . McCarthy became known to a larger audience in 1960 when he supported twice-defeated presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson for the Democratic nomination. He pleaded during his speech nominating Stevenson, "Do not reject this man who made us all proud to be called Democrats!" He joked about his own merits as

4950-601: The US and Cuba . They met in journalist Lisa Howard 's apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan. The 2008 film Che: Part One depicts this event. In 1968, Allard K. Lowenstein and his anti- Vietnam War Dump Johnson movement recruited McCarthy to run against incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson . Reportedly, Lowenstein first attempted to recruit Senator Robert F. Kennedy , who declined to run, then Senator George McGovern , who also declined (Kennedy eventually decided to run after

5060-428: The abject failure of Jimmy Carter 's presidency (he later said that "he was the worst president we ever had"), he appeared in a campaign ad for Libertarian candidate Ed Clark and wrote the introduction to Clark's campaign book. He eventually endorsed Ronald Reagan for president. In 1982, McCarthy ran for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota but lost the Democratic primary to businessman Mark Dayton , 69% to 24%. In

5170-433: The age of mass communication. A minority view, however, suggests that the evidence for a resurgence of political parties too equivocal, and that scholars lack the theoretical concepts to make such judgments. Yet another strain of thought has concluded that "realignment" is occurring. The slow "secular realignment" is not yet over, these scholars say. Regional differences in the level and impact of dealignment simply point up

5280-411: The ballot in 30 states and eased ballot access for later third-party candidates. His party affiliation was variously listed on ballots as "Independent," "McCarthy '76," "Non-Partisan," "Nom. Petition," "Nomination," "Not Designated," and "Court Order". Although he was not on the California and Wyoming ballots, he was recognized as a write-in candidate in those states. In many states, he did not run with

5390-552: The biases inherent in the primary electorates (the over-representation of some groups and the under-representation of others) deprive minority groups of their democratic voice. Beyond the scholarly debates surrounding the direct primary, political parties and their operatives have voiced pragmatic concerns regarding the types of candidates that primaries tend to favor, suggesting that they often produce ideologically extreme candidates who are not always attractive to more moderate , general election voters. The question of representation and

5500-635: The bill's supporters were provisions which would eventually lead to unprecedented growth in numbers and the transfer of policy control from the elected representatives of the American people to individuals wishing to bring relatives to this country". He became a member of the Federation for American Immigration Reform 's board of advisors. McCarthy met with Marxist-Leninist revolutionary Che Guevara in New York City in 1964 to discuss repairing relations between

5610-416: The candidates and issues, low frequency of voting, and less confidence in their ability to influence politics. Although some scholars continue to conclude that self-description is the best measure of partisanship or independence, a number of studies have found debilitating problems with this measure. The nature of the voter registration system and the appearance of the ballot, the way the question reinforces

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5720-419: The causal direction of partisanship must be questioned. While it has long been assumed that partisanship and the strength of partisanship drive attitudes on issues, these scholars conclude that the causal relationship is reversed. Using the self-identification method of measuring political independence, surveys found an increasing number of independent voters beginning in 1966. In 1952, when modern polling on

5830-401: The concept is vague and the data do not support mass change in electoral behavior. The large number of qualifications which must be made to the theory of critical elections has rendered it useless, it is argued. The theory of secular realignment has been particularly criticized. The replacement of elderly voters (who die) with a new generation of voters (who come of age and are eligible to vote)

5940-426: The concept of a realigning election was monolithic, that is, the effects were believed to be national in effect. But beginning in the 1980s, political scientists began to conclude that realigning elections could occur on sub-national levels (such as regions or even within states). But with the "rise of the independent voter" and no realigning election, scholars developed the theory of the "dealigning election." In

6050-465: The conclusion that Party A is still effective. Both voters see the same successes and failures, but their retrospective and prospective calculus of success varies. This has led some scholars to conclude that independence is not the flip-side of partisanship. Rather, partisanship and political independence may be two distinct variables, each of which must be measured separately and using different theoretical constructs. Other scholars have concluded that

6160-440: The dealigning election, all political parties lose support as partisanship decreases and political independence rises. Split-ticket voting and issue-oriented voting increase, leading to political volatility. Divided government (one party controls the executive branch, while another controls the legislature) becomes the norm. A number of scholars have dismissed the theory of realignment and dealignment, however. They argue that

6270-410: The debates. Unlike the other excluded candidates, McCarthy was a longstanding national figure and had mounted credible campaigns for president in previous elections. He won 108,679 votes in the 1992 primaries. In his campaign for the Democratic nomination, McCarthy proposed the use of import fees to help Japan and Western Europe pay for military security and raise taxes on the wealthy in order to eliminate

6380-486: The democracy withers. As PACs and interest groups become more important, the number of people speaking to the public, providing political information and different political choices and views, declines. Additionally, PAC and interest group spokespeople may not be representative of the public or the groups they claim to speak for, creating disenfranchisement of various (often minority) groups. As independent voting and ticket-splitting rise, parties seek to insulate themselves from

6490-420: The direction and strength of partisanship. Both repeated "minor shocks" and retrospective/prospective assessments of political party success are micro-level, rather than macro-level, variables. That is, while very important in creating political independence, they affect individuals only. For example, John may come to believe that Party A is no longer effective and become an independent. Yet, Mary may come to

6600-429: The electoral coalition supporting the existing political system —has been an important one in political theory. First enunciated by V. O. Key, Jr. in 1955, the theory of realigning elections suggested that certain "critical elections" created sudden, massive shifts in the electorate. The political party and policies of the status quo were changed, and a new governing coalition installed which would rule for decades until

6710-437: The extent to which primary voters reflect the demographic and attitudinal characteristics of nonvoters and rank-and-file partisans generally has been a long-standing concern to students of primary politics. Some scholars conclude that primary voters are demographically unrepresentative of the larger partisan electorate, while others find fewer differences. Fred Dutton, one of the commission members, has been accused of diminishing

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6820-475: The following guidelines: The McGovern–Fraser Commission established open procedures and affirmative action guidelines for selecting delegates . In addition the commission made it so that all delegate selection procedures were required to be open; party leaders could no longer handpick the convention delegates in secret. The commission recommended that delegates be represented by the proportion of their population in each state. An unforeseen result of these rules

6930-490: The four-year period since the 2004 Convention displayed on a large screen. During McCarthy's tribute, the screen displaying his photograph mistakenly left off his first name but included his middle name, calling him "Senator Joseph McCarthy"; Joseph McCarthy was a notable Republican Senator from Wisconsin famous for his anti-Communist campaigning and sparring with journalist Edward R. Murrow . In 2009, his alma mater, St. John's University, honored McCarthy by establishing

7040-439: The influence of unions. As McGovern later said, "I opened up the doors of the Democratic Party, and 20 million people walked out." United States Senator, South Dakota, 1963–1981 Eugene McCarthy Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916 – December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota . He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and

7150-727: The initial strong effect of the life-cycle variable was mitigated by generational effects. Party identification seemed strongly affected by certain formative generational events (such as the Civil War , the Great Depression or the social upheaval of the 1960s). Several studies concluded that generational effects were distinct from life-cycle effects, and that both factors were significant in creating (or not) partisanship. But if generational events affected partisanship, some scholars hypothesized that lesser political, social, and economic issues might as well. Conceding that major "shocks" such as

7260-554: The issue began, the number of independent voters nationwide was 22 percent. By 1976, the number had risen more than half, to 36 percent of the electorate. Regionally, the rise of the independent voter was even more apparent. In the non- Deep South , the number of independent voters had risen from 22 percent to 37 percent. But in the Deep South, the number of independents rose steeply from 14 percent in 1952 to 32 percent in 1976 (and would rise even further, to 35 percent, by 1984). Gallup polls data shows independent leaning voters represent

7370-406: The level of partisanship. The concept of "retrospective voting"—in which the voter makes political judgments based on the party-in-power's performance over the past few years—deeply influenced studies of partisanship. Applying the concept of retrospectiveness to partisanship, more recent analyses have concluded that retrospective and prospective political party success play a significant role in

7480-563: The long-haired, counterculture appearance of hippies chose to cut their long hair and shave off their beards in order to campaign for McCarthy door-to-door, a phenomenon that led to the informal slogan "Get clean for Gene". McCarthy's decision to run arose partly as an outcome of Oregon Senator Wayne Morse 's opposition to the war. Morse was one of two senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of August 1964. He gave speeches denouncing

7590-402: The majority of American voters, a trend since 2004. Although the number of self-identified independents has fallen slightly in the 1990s and 2000s, about 30 percent of American voters still say they are independents (as measured by self-identification). ..If one distinguishes between respondents who are adamant about their independence and those who concede closeness to a party. ... In short,

7700-465: The national debt. After leaving the Senate in 1971, McCarthy became a senior editor at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishing and a syndicated newspaper columnist. In the 1960s he began writing poetry, and his increased political prominence led to increased interest in his work. "If any of you are secret poets, the best way to break into print is to run for the presidency", he wrote in 1968. He published

7810-431: The nature of a survey instrument as a measure of partisanship and independence has been called into question. There are several synonyms for the term independent voter : To many scholars, independence seemed the flip-side of partisanship. Identifying the variables which are significant in creating partisanship would, therefore, identify the variables which are significant in creating political independence. Subsequently,

7920-446: The next critical election. The theory of critical elections fit well with what scholars knew about generational effects and the emerging literature on "major shocks" as a variable in determining the existence, direction, and strength of partisanship. It also helped explain the radical shifts in national politics which occurred irregularly in American history. Scholars also hypothesized that realigning elections rejuvenated public support for

8030-416: The nominating process; later, as the commission evolved, it sought specifically to enable better representation among convention delegates of minorities, women, and young people – groups that had previously been underrepresented. The Commission was mainly concerned with developing rules that would govern the 1972 Democratic convention. The Commission report was written in less than nine months and

8140-450: The nomination through popular support in the primaries. McCarthy and Kennedy squared off in California, knowing that the result there would be decisive. They both campaigned vigorously up and down the state, with many polls showing them neck-and-neck, and a few predicting a McCarthy victory. A televised debate between them began to tilt undecided voters away from McCarthy. He made two statements many found ill-considered: that he would accept

8250-479: The number of independent voters—has an extremely deleterious effect on democracy, these scholars claim. Dealignment leads to the rise of candidate-centered elections in which parties and ideologies play little part. Without parties, candidates rely ever-more heavily on mass media for communication, political action committees (PACs) for funds, special interest groups for staff, and political consultants for expertise. The increasing reliance on mass communication leads to

8360-454: The number of minor political parties (particularly "down-ballot" in state, county or local races), or possibly even a breakdown in the political party system. Scholars who hold to the behavioral measure of determining political independence point out that there has been little change in the level of ticket-splitting since the initial upsurge in the 1950s. They also posit that, when independents who strongly lean toward one party are included in

8470-536: The open primary, any registered voter may participate regardless of partisan affiliation. This category also includes states that allow same-day party registration. Conversely, in the closed primary, only same-party registered partisans may participate. Modified-open primaries encompass a broad category of voting rules that are neither fully closed nor fully open for all to participate and include primaries where same-party registrants may participate with " independents ," "unenrolled," "unaffiliated," or "undeclared" voters. In

8580-436: The operative variable was the "life-cycle." That is, a person's partisan attachments naturally grew stronger over time as weak socialization became strong and strong socialization became stronger. Additionally, theorists suggested that older voters favored certain policy preferences (such as strong government pensions and old-age health insurance) which led them to (strongly) favor one party over another. Later studies showed that

8690-457: The organizational strength of each party, electoral variables (such as the ease of voter registration, voting procedures, the timing of primaries and elections, etc.), and even turnout seem to greatly affect the number of independents in a state. The effect of these variables is not uniform across all the states, either. In the British parliamentary system, a similar concept of a " floating voter "

8800-431: The political system, which helped explain the relative stability of American political structures. In time, scholars refined the theory somewhat. The concept of "secular realignment" was developed to account for gradual shifts in politics which had similar effects (eventually) to a critical realigning election. Some studies concluded that "secular realignment" came in short, jerky, periods called "punctuations." Initially,

8910-555: The previous few years. Former President Bill Clinton gave his eulogy. Following his death the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University renamed their Public Policy Center the Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy . The Democratic party memorialized his death during the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, on August 28, 2008. The memorial included pictures of several prominent Democrats who had died during

9020-485: The primaries and nominating another, Hubert Humphrey , who had not entered a single primary. Dissatisfaction with the perceived undemocratic nature of the nominating process led Democrats to create a commission that would ensure greater democratic input into how nominees were selected. The establishment of the commission was approved on the second day of the convention. Its initial mandate was to examine current rules and make recommendations designed to broaden participation in

9130-496: The primaries. He had entered the primaries in April 1968 and was the preferred candidate of President Lyndon B. Johnson . This gave Humphrey the majority needed to secure the Democratic nomination at the 1968 Democratic National Convention . McCarthy did not seek reelection in the 1970 Senate election . He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 but fared poorly in the primaries. He ran in several more races after that but

9240-546: The primary on March 16, 1968, and McGovern also later briefly entered the race). McCarthy entered and almost defeated Johnson in the New Hampshire Democratic primary , with the intention of influencing the federal government —then controlled by Democrats —to curtail its involvement in the Vietnam War . A number of antiwar college students and other activists from around the country traveled to New Hampshire to support McCarthy's campaign. Some antiwar students who had

9350-440: The race after Johnson withdrew) and gaining the nomination. Humphrey, long a champion of labor unions and of civil rights , entered the race with the support of the party "establishment", including most members of Congress, mayors, governors and labor union leaders. He entered too late to compete in any primaries, but had the support of Johnson and many Democratic insiders. Kennedy, like his brother John in 1960, planned to win

9460-712: The reforms as having created too much democracy, or a badly conceived democracy, leaving too much of the nominations decision up to an allegedly uninformed, unrepresented, and/or uninterested electorate. Even before the introduction of the McGovern-Fraser presidential nominating reforms, academics and political practitioners alike wrestled with the questions of nominating procedures, the representativeness of primary electorates, and their implications for democracy. Strong party proponents worried that primaries dilute party influence over nominations and thus impeded party discipline and effectiveness in governing. Others have contended that

9570-502: The request of a group of antiwar Democrats to challenge Johnson in the 1968 Democratic primaries , McCarthy entered the race on an antiwar platform. Though he was initially given little chance of winning, the Tet Offensive galvanized opposition to the war, and McCarthy finished in a strong second place in the New Hampshire primary . After that, Kennedy entered the race, and Johnson announced that he would not seek reelection. McCarthy and Kennedy each won several primary contests. The race

9680-403: The same group as that party's strong partisans, there has also been little change in party loyalty since the 1950s. For example, partisan Republicans and independents who lean Republican tend to vote for Republican candidates just as frequently in the 1990s as they did in the 1950s. In the United States, the tendency of both strong and weak partisans to vote a straight ticket in down-ballot races

9790-423: The same level of political interest as strong partisans and who voted largely based on the issues with which they strongly agreed or disagreed. However, by focusing on voting behavior, this definition of the independent ignored non-voters. Critics claimed that the independent voter is merely a subset of the larger set of independents, which should also include non-voters. Studies also found that voting and not-voting

9900-438: The self-identification method for measuring political independence theorize that independents may be more susceptible to the appeals of third-party candidates. It has also been suggested that the more independent voters, the more volatile elections and the political system will be. Others hypothesize that the amount of ticket-splitting will increase, leading to greater parity between the strongest political parties, an increase in

10010-452: The social group, the more likely the individual will be to develop strong partisan loyalties. When social group homogeneousness is low, the individual is likely to be less strongly socialized into partisan politics and more likely to seek a different party loyalty (whether by disengaging from partisanship or switching partisan loyalties). Life-cycle and generational effects also contribute to partisanship. Initially, studies indicated that

10120-497: The state of Israel. Despite strong showings in several primaries—he won more votes than any other Democratic candidate—McCarthy garnered only 23% of the delegates at the 1968 Democratic National Convention , largely due to the control of state-party organizations over the delegate-selection process. After Kennedy's assassination, many Kennedy delegates, remembering his bitter war of words with McCarthy, chose to support George McGovern rather than McCarthy. Moreover, although Humphrey

10230-505: The two never divorced. The children stayed with their mother after the separation. According to McCarthy biographer Dominic Sandbrook , McCarthy was involved in a romantic relationship with CBS News correspondent Marya McLaughlin that lasted until McLaughlin's death in 1998. McCarthy died of complications from Parkinson's disease at age 89 on December 10, 2005, in a retirement home in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. , where he had lived for

10340-459: The type and number of people seeking election, mobilize voters and enhance turnout, and provide the coalition-building structure essential for office-holders to govern. Parties also serve as critical reference groups for voters, framing issues and providing and filtering information. These functions, it is claimed cannot otherwise be accomplished, and democracies collapse without them. Only political parties serve these roles. Dealignment—the rise in

10450-454: The vast majority of self-defined Independents are not neutral but partisan—a bit bashful about admitting it, but partisan nevertheless. Once this is recognized, the proportion of the electorate that is truly neutral between the two parties is scarcely different now than from what it was in the Eisenhower era. Moreover, because these "pure Independents" now are less inclined to vote, their share of

10560-457: The voting population is, if anything, a bit smaller now than in the 1950s and 1960s. Several analyses conclude that (whether through survey error or misconceptualization of the nature of political independence) the number of independent voters has remained relatively unchanged in the United States since the 1950s. In the United States, voter identification as an independent varies widely across regions as well as states. Inter-party competition,

10670-475: The war before it had entered most Americans' awareness. Thereafter, several politically active Oregon Democrats asked Kennedy to run as an antiwar candidate. McCarthy also encouraged Kennedy to run. After Kennedy refused, the group asked McCarthy to run, and he responded favorably. After Kennedy entered the race and Johnson withdrew, however, McCarthy shifted his focus toward Kennedy. McCarthy declared his candidacy on November 30, 1967, saying, "I am concerned that

10780-511: The war, and quite a few interested in an alternative to Johnson. McCarthy said, "My decision to challenge the President's position and the administration's position has been strengthened by recent announcements out of the administration. The evident intention to escalate and to intensify the war in Vietnam, and on the other hand, the absence of any positive indication or suggestion for a compromise or for

10890-441: The whipsaw effect of elections. The power of incumbency becomes increasingly important, and accessibility by the public declines. Parties seek increasingly moderate positions in order to stay electorally viable, further limiting political choice ("both parties look and sound the same"). As the parties distance themselves from the average voter and seem to offer limited policy options, dealignment worsens. As ideology plays less and less

11000-601: Was an enormous surge in the number of state party presidential primaries . Prior to the reforms, Democrats in two-thirds of the states used elite-run state conventions to choose convention delegates. In the post-reform era, over three-quarters of the states use primary elections to choose delegates, and over 80% of convention delegates are selected in these primaries. This is true for Republicans as well. Nominating procedures are determined by states, and there are three basic types of primary. The two simplest primary forms are what are referred to as "open" and "closed" primaries. In

11110-623: Was deep division among Democrats about the war. By this time, Johnson had become inextricably defined by Vietnam , and this demonstration of divided support within his party meant his reelection (only four years after winning the highest percentage of the popular vote in modern history ) seemed unlikely. The folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary released a record "Eugene McCarthy For President (If You Love Your Country)", endorsing McCarthy, who they said had stood alone against Johnson over "more timid men" now echoing him. On March 16, Robert F. Kennedy announced that he would run; many Democrats saw Kennedy as

11220-532: Was divided into two parts, one that recommended 18 guidelines for state parties and another recommending steps deemed desirable for state parties to take. The report attempted to bring uniformity to the delegate selection process and to give greater influence to those in the past that had a marginal voice, mainly women, blacks and young people (defined as those under 30). Some of the guidelines are as follows: The first guideline ordered state parties to "adopt explicit written Party rules governing delegate selection. It

11330-746: Was followed by eight "procedural rules and safeguards" which the commission demanded be applied in the delegate selection process. Specifically, the states were henceforth to forbid proxy voting ; forbid the use of the unit rule and related practices such as instructing delegations; require a quorum of not less than 40 percent at all party committee meetings; remove all mandatory assessments of delegates and limit mandatory participation fees to no more than $ 10; ensure that party meetings in non rural areas were held on uniform dates, at uniform times and in places of easy access; ensure adequate public notice of all party meetings concerned with delegate selection. Other guidelines included that: Controversies included those over

11440-518: Was himself a candidate for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination in 1964. He co-sponsored the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 , though he later expressed regret about its impact and became a member of the Federation for American Immigration Reform . As the 1960s progressed, McCarthy emerged as a prominent opponent of Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War. After Robert F. Kennedy declined

11550-417: Was in the race, many of them jumped ship, urging McCarthy to drop out and support Kennedy. McCarthy resented that Kennedy had let him do the "dirty work" of challenging Johnson and entered the race only when it became apparent that Johnson was vulnerable. As a result, while he initially entered the campaign with few illusions of winning, McCarthy now devoted himself to beating Kennedy (and Humphrey, who entered

11660-418: Was never elected to another office. He ran as an Independent in the 1976 presidential election and won 0.9% of the popular vote. He was a plaintiff in the landmark campaign finance case Buckley v. Valeo and supported Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election. McCarthy was born in Watkins, Minnesota . He was the son of a deeply religious Catholic woman of German ancestry, Anna Baden McCarthy, and

11770-498: Was not clearly an antiwar candidate, some antiwar Democrats hoped that as president he might succeed where Johnson had failed and extricate the United States from Vietnam. On June 23, 1968, Hubert Humphrey defeated McCarthy, securing significant delegates in their shared home state of Minnesota. Before election day, McCarthy confirmed that he would personally vote for Humphrey, but said that he would go no further than that, stopping short of endorsing him. Although McCarthy did not win

11880-404: Was that many states complied by holding primary elections to select convention delegates. This created a shift from caucuses to primaries. The Republican Party 's nomination process was also transformed in this way, as state laws involving primaries usually apply to all parties' selection of delegates. Women accounted for 13% of the southern delegates at the 1968 convention, but rose to 36% at

11990-441: Was the only primary in which McCarthy actively participated. He got 38% of the vote to the then leading contender Edmund Muskie 's 59%, but the media ignored McCarthy's Illinois campaign. After his 1972 campaign, McCarthy left the Democratic Party, and ran as an Independent candidate for president in 1976 . During that campaign, he took a libertarian stance on civil liberties , promised to create full employment by shortening

12100-474: Was upended in June 1968 when Kennedy was assassinated . Although McCarthy won a plurality of both the popular vote and the delegate count in the Democratic primaries, the rules at the time did not bind delegates to their primary results. Following the assassination of Kennedy, his delegates became uncommitted, with most ultimately backing incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey , who had not actively campaigned during

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