43% of Americans identify themselves as Independents, according to a recent poll from Gallup. Both democratic and republican voter ID was 27%, and 27%, according to the Gallup Poll.
Independent voter ID hit 43% in 2014, and from 2021-2023 has been above 40%. Gallup asks respondents in each survey whether they identify politically as a Republican, a Democrat or an independent. The results reported here are based on combined data for each year, including interviews with more than 12,000 U.S. adults in 2023.
Independent identification was up two percentage points in 2023 compared with 2022, while there was a one-point decline in both Democratic and Republican identification. Democratic identification has now declined by one point in each of the past three years, the same three years under President Joe Biden.
Gallup also asks independent voters what party they would “lean” towards if they had no other choice., This is usually the case in Presidential elections, when, in October, many independent voters hold their nose and vote for either the democrat or republican.
Gallup has found this in polling for 6 of the last 7 presidential elections, (except 2012). “Still, even with a slight election-year drop — which has ranged from two to five points — independents will remain the largest, and arguably most persuadable, group of voters. In what is expected to be a close election contest, it is critical for each party, but especially Democrats, to nominate a candidate who can appeal to independent voters,” writes Jeffrey Jones from Gallup.
