Most Independents Once Belonged to a Party

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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March 15, 2010

Most Independents Once Belonged to a Party

A CBS/New York Times poll found 42% of Americans identified themselves as political independents.

Interestingly, 61% say they used to identify with one of the nation's two major political parties -- 14% were once Republicans, 23% are former Democrats, and another 24% say they actually belonged to each of the major political parties at one time or another.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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March 15, 2010