Would you agree that Independents, regardless of their internal preference, are a good barometer of centrists vs extremists? I do. And as such, we ought to want arguably 'radical' beliefs like that there was widespread fraud to be marginal in such groups if we want to feel confident it isn't something that needs addressing to avoid conflict over it.

> Would you agree that Independents, regardless of their internal preference, are a good barometer of centrists vs extremists?

No, the US distribution of political beliefs is not a unidimensional center-weighted distribution. More independents are either extremists outside the main parties on the main axis between the parties or sitting equally far off on axes orthogonal to that axis than are centrists.

And most centrists are in the neoliberal capitalist faction of one or the other for the major parties.

I meant specifically on this issue, which clearly, due to its nature, is highly partisan along R/D lines given the fairly obvious incentives to believe one way or another to gain power. Do you think on this specific issue (that the election was stolen) that Independents ought to tell us a bit about what the average, non-partisan belief is?

> Do you think on this specific issue (that the election was stolen) that Independents ought to tell us a bit about what the average, non-partisan belief

Not in any meaningful sense; largely for related limits to those discussed upthread for general centrism: research on voting behavior that has shown those who identify as independents are not particular independent, and contain an identifiable major subset as reliably partisan as those who identify with a major party.

If by “average, non-partisan belief” you simply mean the belief of the average person who doesn't identify with a major party, then, sure, you will have defined it such that independents are key. But this isn't useful information.

I guess this leads to the question of if there is any way to use polls to get a read on how apolitical observers feel on a given issue through party affiliation. It sounds like the answer you have is "no", but I guess that leaves little value in polls in issues such as this one, given the salient issue (at least, to me) is how strongly it is held by non-partisans. I guess not for this thread.

> I guess this leads to the question of if there is any way to use polls to get a read on how apolitical observers feel on a given issue through party affiliation

There is no such thing as apolitical observers.

Obviously - but partisanship isn’t a zero or one

My main criticism was claiming Dems support your position. I'm sure there are a few, but not enough to really matter.

Otherwise, I see the extended "election fraud" campaign as an excuse to squeeze out more money for Trump (bad), generate emotional support for the Georgia election (good), and help a guy in Texas get a pardon (lol).

I didn't claim Dems support this position. Beyond that, claiming that "there is widespread fraud" is "my" position, when I've stated otherwise clearly, shows more bias on your part. What makes you think I think there was widespread fraud? Perhaps you're projecting: if you defend people who are being suppressed and ridiculed, this doesn't mean you agree with them. Perhaps you are only able to imagine defending people you agree with?

I realize how what I wrote could be construed saying D's support the claim, especially if you presume I'm some kind of partisan hack trying to troll you. In fact, what I was emphasizing (poorly) was that the population sampled from which has one third of support includes Democrats and Independents, since I would have found one third of just Republicans believing there was widespread fraud to be somewhat surprising. I should have written "sampled from a population that includes Democrats and Independents" - I'd like to assume everything else I've written in this thread is evidence I'm not trying to trick anyone or score points. I am genuinely concerned at the level of dismissal, ridicule, and suppression of skeptics of the election, since the floor on this is a third of the country and history tells us what to expect when you leave that many feeling powerless to overcome a presumed deep injustice via speech, voting, and the legal system.