# What about Independents and uncommitted registering as Republicans for the upcoming primaries **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 29, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-independents-and-uncommitted-registering-as-republicans-for-the-upcoming-primaries/951599 "2021-09-29T19:55:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![civilis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@civilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/civilis)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-independents-and-uncommitted-registering-as-republicans-for-the-upcoming-primaries/951599/1 "2021-09-29T19:55:33Z")
to outvote the Trump supporters and get democracy back? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-independents-and-uncommitted-registering-as-republicans-for-the-upcoming-primaries/951599/2 "2021-09-29T19:58:42Z")
If it is anywhere like my county, Democrats + 3rd Party + Independent + moderate Republicans \< Trumpinistas. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-independents-and-uncommitted-registering-as-republicans-for-the-upcoming-primaries/951599/3 "2021-09-29T20:20:18Z")
How many of these voters actually are there? Not enough to make a substantial difference I would say. There was a Texas Republican primary where the Trump endorsed candidate lost to someone running as an anti-Trump candidate. That district only narrowly voted for Trump in 2020 anyway. He had shred a lot of support there from 2016 and 2016 was a decline from Romney in 2012. It seems an exception though in solidly Republican areas over the years though. People are too polarized to be truly independent voters today. This is not like the 1990s when Newt Gingrich’s Republicans swept the midterms only for a Democratic president to win re-election easily two years later. Polls show Republican states like Biden’s infrastructure plan a lot but that won’t make them like Biden. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-independents-and-uncommitted-registering-as-republicans-for-the-upcoming-primaries/951599/4 "2021-09-29T23:36:22Z")
Isn’t the point to outvote Republicans in the actual election? No extra step is needed to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-independents-and-uncommitted-registering-as-republicans-for-the-upcoming-primaries/951599/5 "2021-09-29T23:47:00Z")
I usually vote in the R primary. In 2020, I chose to take every opportunity to vote against Trump and Cornyn. In 2022, I hope there’s a R candidate who’s better than Abbott. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-independents-and-uncommitted-registering-as-republicans-for-the-upcoming-primaries/951599/6 "2021-10-01T19:53:42Z")
So far, no luck. We just have Allen West and Don Huffines, both of which are self-avowedly FAR worse than Abbott, going so far as to try and paint him as a RINO. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-independents-and-uncommitted-registering-as-republicans-for-the-upcoming-primaries/951599/7 "2021-10-01T20:23:46Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Isn’t the point to outvote Republicans in the actual election? No extra step is needed to do that. In a dream world the point would be to have primaries produce two candidates who disagree on public policy and funding priorities but both of whom support fundamental values of respect for the democratic process and respectful discourse. But that ship has sailed. . . ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-about-independents-and-uncommitted-registering-as-republicans-for-the-upcoming-primaries/951599/8 "2021-10-01T22:54:15Z")
Exactly. There is no real-world situation in which the merely insane Republicans are an acceptable choice.