As party identification has weakened,
a. the number of independents has grown.
b. sociological factors have declined in importance.
c. the need for candidates of outstanding capability has declined.
d. voters bave tended toward the democratic party.

As party identification has weakened, the number of independents has grown.

Option A

Explanation:

An identification of a party is the strength of the politicians. It is the way the voters get connected to politics and the politicians. They get mentally attached by the identification which gets imprinted in them hence feeling attached to that particular party.

They tend to build an individual feeling towards the party.  If the party has stable identification there are many a chance for the party to win and they get a stable vote. As the party identification is weakened many new independent politicians arise to fill up the barrier and get noticed.

d. it adversely affected american productivity

in griswold v. connecticut (1965), the supreme court ruled that a state's ban on the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy.