As symbols go, Rhode Island’s Independent Man doesn’t hold anything back.
Looking out over the state from the top of the Statehouse rotunda, the Independent Man is covered front and back by little more than an oversized loin cloth, holding a spear, telling the world that while the Ocean State may be the smallest, it will do what it damn well pleases.
Well, at least that is what the state’s self-image – and numbers – would have you believe. The truth seems to be a little less clear than that.
Since the Secretary of State’s office has been keeping strict records – 2006 – the most popular among the state’s political parties is not a party. Rather, independents, or as they are officially known, unaffiliated, have made up just under half of the state’s electorate in any given year. This year, for instance, independents make up 48.4 percent of Rhode Island’s registered voters. Democrats comprise 39.4 percent of the state’s voters, while Republicans come in at 11.7 percent.
And yet, Democrats dominate the General Assembly and its congressional contingent, giving the Ocean State a decidedly blue tint. Only the governor’s office strays from this pattern, with Gov. Gina M. Raimondo the first Democrat elected to the state’s top office in decades.
So what does being an independent mean in a state that is so decidedly blue? Recently, not much. But based on the national mood and the continuing splintering of the nation’s electorate, the next few elections may yield some surprising results … or not. After all, when you are independent, how predictable can you be?
