But if not nonexistent, they are rare as any informed student of American politics will tell you. They decide late about voting because they don t like politics and don t pay attention to political campaigns. When they decide, if they decide, they tend to do so for vague or frivolous reasons and those are often personal rather than substantive. They are typically skeptical about politics politicians are all alike and you can t trust any of them but that skepticism usually is based more in unreflective folk cynicism than in genuine knowledge or experience of the political process. Goo goo fantasies to the contrary notwithstanding, the real stalwarts of American politics are those whose partisan loyalties are most deeply engaged.
Strong partisans are, politically speaking, good citizens.
They know the issues, actively follow campaign devel opments, and almost always vote. They do not, it is true, maintain open minds. They know very early on in any election cycle who they will vote for. A great many of them, indeed, ignore the cardinal rule of goo goo political virtue and vote unfailingly for the candidate of their party. They act as they do not because they are not thoughtful, but precisely because they have thought a lot about politics usually for a long time and have arrived at a stable set of beliefs.