from Earth Times.org

WASHINGTON, (July 1) The large segment of independent voters may play the role of political power broker in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a survey says.

About three in 10 voters call themselves independent, says the joint survey from The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University.

Independents split their votes between President George Bush and John Kerry in 2004 but shifted to the Democrats in 2006, providing critical support in the Democratic takeover of the U.S. House and the Senate, the survey said.

The study underscores the Republican Party’s problems heading into 2008, the Post reported Sunday. Independents continue to lean heavily toward the Democrats, fueled by dissatisfaction with Bush and his supporters and opposition to the war in Iraq.

“What have (Republicans) done for the good of the country? Nothing that I can think of,” said Fred Wood, an Independent from Marietta, Ohio, who voted for Bush in 2000 and Kerry in 2004.