Record 45% of Americans Identify as Independents

More Americans than ever are stepping away from the two-party labels. A new Gallup survey finds that 45% of US adults identified as political independents in 2025, the highest share in more than three decades of telephone polling and up from 43% in recent peak years. Just 27% of adults called themselves Democrats and 27% Republicans. The shift is driven largely by younger Americans: Majorities of Gen Z and millennials, and more than four in 10 Gen Xers, now claim the independent label, compared with about a third or less of baby boomers and older adults. A big factor in recent swings is tied to unhappiness with whatever party is in power, which the AP notes may bode well for Democrats in the midterms.

• All these independents, however, are not precisely in the political middle. When asked which party they lean toward, 20% of all adults were independents who favored Democrats, 15% leaned Republican, and 10% did not lean either way.
• Combining party identifiers and leaners, Democrats held a 47% to 42% edge over Republicans in 2025, reversing a three-year period of GOP advantage and returning to a pattern last seen in President Trump's first term. The Democratic edge widened over the course of the year, from parity with Republicans in early 2025 to an eight-point lead by year's end.
• On ideology, conservatives still outnumber liberals. Thirty-five percent of Americans described themselves as conservative or very conservative, 28% as liberal or very liberal, and 33% as moderate. However, the conservative lead over liberals—seven points—is the smallest margin going back to 1992. The biggest ideological shift has come inside the Democratic Party, where 59% now identify as liberal, up from 25% in 1994.