英文摘要 |
A significant number of voters self-report in polls and surveys that they are 'independents' who do not lean toward any political party. There is no sufficient theoretical base, however, to believe that they are pure independents. By proving that, we find some of such voters who claim to be independent but behave in a partisan manner, such as voting consistently for a party and/or consistently favoring a political talk show, but then, for reasons of hiding partisan orientation in polls and surveys, are interviewed. We find that, besides their family history that influences their attitudes towards revealing their partisanship publicly, social expectation and conflict avoidance are two important reasons of not revealing party identification. We discuss the findings and implications which are important to understand 'independents' in Taiwan. |