May 15, 2019
Independents often are portrayed as political free agents with the potential to alleviate the nation’s rigid partisan divisions. Yet the reality is that most independents are not all that “independent” politically. And the small share of Americans who are truly independent stand out for their low level of interest in politics.
Nearly four-in-ten U.S. adults (38%) identify as politically independent, but most lean toward either the Republican Party (13%) or the Democratic Party (17%). Just 7% of Americans decline to lean toward a party, a share that has changed little in recent years.
6 facts about U.S. political independents
