New High of 45% in U.S. Identify as Political Independents (January 12, 2026)

https://news.gallup.com/poll/700499/new-high-identify-politi...

darth_avocado 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Identifying as independents means nothing. 67% of independents in 2018 viewed one party more favorable and were unfavorable to other. In other words, the independents have a partisan lean towards one party and are more likely to vote that way.

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/03/14/political-in...

▲

groby_b 6 hours ago | parent [-]

"indepdendent" does not mean "i see all parties as absolutely the same".

It means "I am not firmly affiliated". You still have the ability to make choices on who is a better likely outcome

▲

XorNot 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That only matters of you actually do make different choices. But of course in turn even trying to control for that depends on their being meaningful changes in party platforms between elections.

So I'm pretty content calling it a meaningless measure.

▲

swed420 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Identifying as independent is the first step toward not voting at all (which itself is a type of vote, especially in a rigged system).

So definitely not meaningless. It demonstrates increasing amounts of people are tired of pretending our democracy isn't mostly illusory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniparty

▲

XorNot 4 hours ago | parent [-]

[flagged]

▲

swed420 4 hours ago | parent [-]

> What a childish, stupid opinion.

Democrats lost to a gameshow host. Twice. They just had to be better than that, and they couldn't manage. Pathetic. They also created the conditions for his rise. Twice. The bar is so amazingly low, and yet you can't comprehend how they keep fumbling this. Maybe, just maybe, it's a good cop / bad cop arrangement where only capital interests win, and it's a race to the bottom for everybody else. Or maybe that's just a childish, stupid opinion. Who knows!

	▲	XorNot 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		So you're capable of identifying that how people vote does matter, that the electorate actually did determine the outcome, you are not alleging that the election was actually rigged, but you think not voting in a first past the post electoral system - while expressing dissatisfaction with the outcome as decided by the voters - will achieve something?

▲

spicymaki 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This is correct. That is why I changed from independent to an actual political party. There is no point, it is highly improbable that I would ever vote for the party that is against my values. The two main US political parties are diametrically opposed.

▲

swed420 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

No, they each manufacture consent for capital interests in a race to the bottom for everybody else, using time-tested good cop / bad cop, revolving door corruption, etc.

▲

bigstrat2003 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

So, vote for a third party. If you don't actually like the candidate you vote for, you're engaging in political negligence. When I vote, I almost never vote for a Republican or Democrat candidate because they are, by and large, not people I want representing me. So I vote for someone I do want representing me.

	▲	amanaplanacanal 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That can work, if you are strategic about it. If your candidate is polling at 5%, you might as well have not voted at all. Something I read once, probably 50 years ago now: you may not see a candidate you want to vote for, but you will probably see a candidate you want to vote against.

▲

trentor 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Right on track to be the next Russia. Ironic but also incredibly funny.

	▲	FpUser 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		He who kills the dragon becomes one.

▲

jeffbee 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

An "independent" in America is a person who greatly desires everything Trump is doing but realizes that makes them a bad person and therefore refuses to admit it.

▲

the_gastropod 4 hours ago | parent [-]

I know you’re going to get downvoted to hell, but you’re pretty much spot on. There’s something strangely desirable about being seen as the edgy contrarian “not left, not right” person. But 9 times out of 10, that person has approximately the same incoherent worldview most Trumpists have.

▲

bigstrat2003 3 hours ago | parent [-]

He's not spot on at all, and that's why he's being downvoted. He's examining the world through a false dichotomy of "if you aren't on my side, you support my enemies". But the reality is that most people who consider themselves independent are actually independent and vote for whomever they consider to be the best candidate.

	▲	the_gastropod 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		[flagged]

▲

vkou 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Two thirds of those independents will vote MAGA down the ballot to give him a third and fourth term.