Are independents really independents? No, says a website run by Larry Sabato, one of the country’s most interesting political scientists.

An article on his website, “Sabato’s Crystal Ball,” by senior columnist Alan Abramowitz makes the case that independents are not that important a constituency, in large part because they aren’t really independents. Abramowitz says most lean to one party or another and vote about as reliably as party identifiers.

If it’s true, it’s not good for America because it encourages the parties to practice base politics rather than inclusive politics. The more the country hardens into two camps with nobody in the middle and few undecideds, the less likely politicians are to work together to produce commonsense compromises. We are seeing that now with the debt ceiling debate.

Here is the column by Abramowitz.