Independents are not "Centrists"

[Lorien]

Independents are Greens and Libertarians and Socialists and Neo-nazis and pot smoking conservatives and Communists and teabaggers and Christian hippies and single issue voters and apolitical people who rarely pay attention and angry voters who hate both parties and those who just dislike labels. Calling yourself an Independent does not mean that you embrace middle of the road policies. More often than not, it simply means that you feel unrepresented, which most of us are. I'm registered as a Democrat because I want to vote in the primaries, but I identify myself to any pollster as an "Independent" because my positions on the issues are to the Left of those of the current Democratic party. By attempting to appeal to everyone, the Centrist more often than not alienates nearly everyone who calls themselves an Independent...except the small percentage of those who actually do identify themselves as Centrists. Confusing the two isn't a winning strategy.