For the first time in history, there are more registered independents in the United States than there are registered Republicans.
New data from Ballot Access News, which tracks registrations in the 31 states that require voters to register by party, shows independents account for 29.09% of voters in them, compared with 28.87% for Republicans, The Washington Post reported.
It marks the first time since party registration began in the early 1900s that the number of registered independents has surpassed members of either major political party, according to Ballot Access News.
As recently as 2004, Republicans outpaced independents by nearly 10 percentage points, the Post noted. At that time, Democrats made up 42.19% of the vote, Republicans made up 32.79% of the vote and independents made up 23.15%.
Democrats saw a boost in 2008 when former President Barack Obama was elected, hitting a peak of 43.62% of registered voters, the Post reported. By 2016, the percentage of registered Democrats had declined to 40.6%.
Currently, 39.66% of voters are registered Democrats.