“Are You an Independent Voter? You Aren’t If You Checked This Box: The American Independent Party Is California’s Largest Third Party. A Poll Shows 73% May Be in It by Mistake. Are You One of Them?”, 2016-04-17 (; backlinks):
With nearly half a million registered members, the American Independent Party is bigger than all of California’s other minor parties combined. The ultraconservative party’s platform opposes abortion rights and same sex marriage, and calls for building a fence along the entire United States border. Based in the Solano County home of one of its leaders, the AIP bills itself as “The Fastest Growing Political Party in California.” But a Times investigation has found that a majority of its members have registered with the party in error. Nearly three in four people did not realize they had joined the party, a survey of registered AIP voters conducted for The Times found.
…Residents of rural and urban communities, students and business owners and top Hollywood celebrities with known Democratic leanings—including Sugar Ray Leonard, Demi Moore and Emma Stone—were among those who believed they were declaring that they preferred no party affiliation when they checked the box for the American Independent Party.
…Of the 500 AIP voters surveyed by a bipartisan team of pollsters, fewer than 4% could correctly identify their own registration as a member of the American Independent Party.
…After being asked questions about their registration, voters were read a series of statements from the American Independent Party’s official platform, a combination of specific and broad political beliefs. It calls for abiding by duties given to “all men” by “the God they are commanded to love.” It supports a “pro-life Constitution” and proclaims that marriage between a man and a woman is a “God-ordained contract.” And the platform supports what the party labels as the 2nd Amendment’s “right to self defense” and calls for building a fence around the entire United States border. After being read excerpts of the platform, more than 50% of those surveyed in the poll said they wanted to leave the American Independent Party. The more specific the platform position, the weaker the support of those surveyed. Most of the voters who were polled knew little, if anything, about the party to which they belong.