while for our purposes it is unnecessary to trace the fall of the political bosses from "kingmaker" to "stumblebum," it is important to realize that citizens feel little allegiance to political parties. Each year since the mid-1960s, the results of the election studies conducted by the center for political studies at the university of michigan have shown that fewer and fewer voters identify themselves as republicans or democrats, while more and more call themselves independents. in 1964, approximately 24 percent of the population eligible to vote labeled themselves as independents. thirty years later, in 1994, the center for political studies reported that 35 percent identified themselves as independent democrats, independent independents, and independent republicans. in the 200 election, according to the Gallup poll, 38 percent of the electorate identified with neither the republican nor the democratic party, 34 percent were democrats, and 28 percent republican. and in 2004 and 20087 the apparent need to declare one's independence from the major parties was once again in vogue, with the number of voters who call themselves independents rising far more than those who identofy with either the republican or democratic parties.