A record number of Americans claim to be independent. They are kidding themselves

More than four in 10 Americans -- 43 percent -- say they are political independents in a new Gallup poll. That's a new record high.

It's also highly misleading.

What we have here isn't so much a rise in political independence as much as a rise in the desire to be labeled "independent." Indeed, almost every indicator shows that the American people are actually becoming more polarized, more electorally predictable, and less swing-y -- i.e. less independent.

Witness these two polls .... http://www.washingtonpost.com