Power goes to those who decline to state
Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2010

Article Excerpt

They are the most sought-after voters in California, the weather vanes who tell the rest of the state which way the wind is blowing. Technically they are "decline to state" voters, because when they registered, they refused to side with any specific political party. They could just as easily be labeled "the deciders."

A new Los Angeles Times/USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences poll demonstrated why both parties, but more often Republicans, have had a hard time ingratiating themselves with the nonpartisans despite their myriad efforts.

Nonpartisan voters account for 20% of the electorate in California, and they are the fastest-growing segment. Their numbers began burgeoning as a consequence of deep economic changes in the state. In the early 1990s, the traditional defense, finance and manufacturing industries that had powered the California economy and defined its politics began giving ground to information and entertainment companies. Their workers were more centrist, better educated, more diverse -- and utterly uninterested in politics as it had been practiced by their parents' generation.

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