In the run-up to the vote, 15% of Croats said they supported independence and 64% declared in favour of the proposed confederation. 37% said independence was a political priority. Parties gradually developed their ethnic profiles during the campaign. While the SDS appealed exclusively to Croatian Serb voters, surveys indicated 98% of the HDZ's voters were Croats. The KNS applied moderately nationalistic rhetoric but failed to seriously challenge the HDZ. Growing Serbian and Croatian Serb nationalism increasingly prompted Croat voters to support the HDZ. The SKH-SDP appealed to an ethnically mixed electorate; surveys indicated 52% of its supporters were Croats, 28% were Serbs and 17% declared themselves as Yugoslavs. Among Croatian Serbs, only 23% supported the SDS, while 46% supported the SKH-SDP. Eventually, the HDZ emerged as the most credible anti-communist party in Croatia, rejecting the arbitrary rule and corruption that many Croatians associated with 45 years of communist domination, and affirming Croatia's national and religious identity.