Have you ever changed political parties, and why?

I have changed my registration to give another smaller party ballot status even though I still mostly voted democrat. I like seeing more options to pick from when I’m at the polls.

The 2 parties are a joke. I’ll never join either. I don’t need nor want to be a member of any political party. I’m not running for office and if I was, that wouldn’t matter.

I belong to no organized political party.

I’m a Democrat.

Thank you, Will Rogers.

I was registered Green for 8 years, but I switched back to a Democrat to vote for Obama in the primaries. I might switch back.

Maybe my comment wont fit here that well, since the question is about the american party system, and I am not sure the question is about being a member of a party or the actual vote.

I have changed my support on several elections(Sweden). I mostly vote for the Socialist Democracy Party or the Socialist Party on state level, and the Green Party on the local.

The Union election comes up now between the 4–7 June, and I think I am going to change my vote from Social Democrats to the Pirate Party.

The reason is that there are troublesome legislation decisions about the internet on the table, and I’m worried about what is going on in the Union when it comes to privacy and integrity, surveillance and not the least the future of internet itself. The Pirate Party is a one-issue party really, but the only party that seems to take these things seriously, so I think I might vote for them.

@oratio Never heard of the Pirate Party. Fascinating.
Of course your comments fit here.

I am a registered Democrat. I will vote another party though if I want to. Because of this, I am thinking of changing my affiliation to Independent, that way I can vote either way I want to in the Primaries.

I went from Democrat, to Republican, to unaffiliated. I first believed the right government could help me, then I thought less government would work better, now I think nobody knows what the hell they’re doing.

here in California, you have to be in the party to vote in the primary.

Where I live, and in every place I’ve lived, if you weren’t a Democrat, you might as well go fishing on election day. Fortunately, it isn’t at all hard for me to be a Democrat. I vote Green when I know it’s not going to hurt the guy who should win. But other than that, I’m a Democrat through and through.

I don’t understand people who won’t register in a party in a state where you must be registered in order to vote in the primary. You are disenfranchising yourself. Especially in a one-party area, like where I live.

@daloon I live in Kansas that is always a Republican state in presidential elections…my dad always tells me that I’m wasting my vote because I usually vote for the Dem…I don’t see how he thinks it’s wasted if I cast my vote…but hes a Republican.

I first registered as a Democrat, because my early political activism was all through the local Democrats. (The local Republicans were a joke.) When I moved and had to re-register to vote in my new home, I registered without a party affiliation, and I haven’t had one since. I live in a state where voters unenrolled in a party can choose to vote in any one primary on primary election day, so it’s not hurting me.

@cwilbur: in election day party affiliation states, it doesn’t matter if you are registered in a party.

Not all states are like that.

@knitfroggy: if I lived in Kansas, I’d register Republican (assuming you had to do that to vote in primaries that matter). In the primary, I’d vote for the most progressive Republican.

I’d vote for the most pregressive person in the general election. That would, most likely, be the Democrat, but who knows? Someday, maybe even Kansas will elect a Democrat for something.

@daloon Kathleen Sebelius was our Governor and she is a Democrat. She’s now the Health and Human Services Secretary for President Obama. Maybe someday we will be a blue state in a presidential election.

I think I’ll switch to Independent so I can vote either way in the primary-it’s like that in Kansas.

I popped out of the womb a raging liberal, and have only become more so as I’ve gotten older. However, I would have registered independent if I could have voted in the primaries, but my state doesn’t allow that. Therefore, I am a Democrat… and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

No. I’ve been a moderate liberal which we call social democrats in Germany (with a slight touch of green) since I’m 18.

I haven’t been registered with either party for years because I didn’t want either side to assume how my vote would be cast. Upon becoming a Baha’i last year, I found out that the recommendation is for Baha’is to be unaffiliated so as to not get pulled into partisan bickering.