Are you a moderately independent voter?

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Brief article

We hear it all the time, "How did he do among independents?" or "She lost among moderates, the independent voters." In a recent New York Times piece, columnist David Brooks divided the electorate into liberals, conservatives, and independents. This view mistakes a lack of party affiliation for ideological innocence, according to polling specialists Zogby International.

For all intents and purposes, moderates are just what they appear to be: an ideological group that is not as liberal as liberals and not as conservative as conservatives. They are a fickle bunch--read "swing vote"--whose policy views can fall anywhere in the wide middle between ideological...