According to a recent Gallup Poll, 45% of U.S. adults identified as political independents in 2025, while an equal number of Americans identified as being either Democrats or Republicans.
The latest figure marks the highest level recorded since the polling firm began regularly tracking party identification by telephone in 1988, surpassing the previous high of 43% measured in 2014, 2023, and 2024, the pollsters reported.
Just 27% of Americans identified as Democrats and 27% as Republicans.
Independents have been the largest political group in most years since 1988, but their share has climbed sharply over the past 15 years. Since 2011, independent identification has typically reached 40% or higher, a threshold not seen in earlier decades.
The 2025 results are based on interviews with more than 13,000 U.S. adults conducted throughout the year.
Generational change is a major driver of the trend, as younger Americans continue to identify as independents at much higher rates than older generations, and they have largely maintained that identity as they age.
Baby boomers and members of the Silent Generation have been less likely over time to identify as independents.
In 2025, majorities of Generation Z adults and millennials identified as political independents, as did more than four in 10 Generation X adults. One-third or fewer of baby boomers and Silent Generation adults said they were independents.
The pattern reflects not only generational replacement but also a broader shift among young adults today, who are more likely than young adults in past decades to reject formal party labels.
Fifty-six percent of Gen Z adults identified as independents in 2025, compared with 47% of millennials in 2012 and 40% of Gen X adults in 1992.
While independents now make up the largest bloc, their political leanings continue to tilt toward Democrats, giving that party a renewed advantage.
Gallup has asked independents since 1991 whether they lean more toward the Democratic or Republican Party.
In 2025, 20% of independents said they leaned Democratic, 15% leaned Republican, and 10% did not lean toward either party.
That breakdown marks a shift from 2024, reflecting a three-point decline in Republican leaners and a three-point increase in Democrat leaners. Over the same period, identification with both major parties slipped by one percentage point.
When party identification and leanings are combined, an average of 47% of Americans in 2025 identified as Democrats or independents who lean Democrat, compared with 42% who identified as Republicans or leaned Republican.
The five-point Democratic advantage ends a three-year stretch in which Republicans held a narrow edge.
The movement was pronounced over the course of the year. In the fourth quarter of 2024, spanning the final stretch of the presidential campaign and most of President Donald Trump's transition into his second term in office, Republicans held a four-point advantage in party affiliation.
By the first quarter of 2025, the parties were evenly matched, but Democrats then moved ahead by three points in the second quarter, seven points in the third quarter, and eight points by the end of the year.
Gallup also found that ideological identification continued to shift, with the conservative advantage narrowing to its smallest level on record.
In 2025, 35% of Americans described themselves as very conservative or conservative, compared with 28% who identified as very liberal or liberal; 33% called themselves moderate. The seven-point conservative edge is the smallest Gallup has measured in annual averages dating to 1992.
The long-term trend shows more Americans identifying as liberal and fewer as moderate, while conservative identification has remained relatively steady.
Changes have been most pronounced among Democrats, 59% of whom now identify as liberal, up from 33% in 2005 and 25% in 1994. Among Republicans, 77% identified as conservative in 2025, compared with 58% in 1994.
Nearly half of independents (47%) continued to describe themselves as moderates.
Gallup said the shifts do not reflect improved views of the Democratic Party, whose favorable ratings remain historically low and roughly on par with those of the Republican Party.
Instead, the movement appeared tied to dissatisfaction with the incumbent president, a pattern seen repeatedly in recent election cycles.
As Democrats were associated with former President Joe Biden from 2022 through 2024, Republicans are now falling under the association with Trump.
Negative assessments of presidential performance tend to push independents, who have weaker partisan ties, toward the opposition party, contributing to frequent swings in political control.
That dynamic has resulted in the incumbent president’s party losing the White House or at least one chamber of Congress in each of the past six presidential or midterm elections.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.