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Comment by swed420

7 hours ago

Related:

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

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

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...

  • "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

    • 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.

      4 replies →

    • 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.

      3 replies →

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.

  • 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.

    • 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.

      1 reply →

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