Partisanship, Independence, and the Partisan Identification Question

Abstract

The partisan identification index has come under increasing criticism. Many of the difficulties in interpreting the index disappear once one realizes that the partisan identifi cation question is a bidimensional measure of partisanship and independence. As a consequence of this bidimensionality, partisan independents are neither more nor less partisan than weak partisans but are instead more independent. This relationship between the weak partisans and partisan independents explains the oft-observed transitivities, intransitivities, and nontransitivities that have appeared in the index.