Gallup: Fewer Americans Identify as Independents

Fewer Americans self-identified as political independents in 2016 compared to the year before, according to a recent Gallup poll.

The percentage of American independents fell three percent in 2016, reaching the lowest point in six years:

• Independents in 2016: 39 percent;
• 2015: 42 percent;
• 2014: 43 percent;
• 2013: 40 percent;
• 2007: 36 percent.

The data comes from over 17,000 interviews conducted over the course of 2016.

Despite the recent drop, the average for independents remains above 37 percent, as it has since 1988.

"Political independents continue to outnumber Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. by a significant margin," Gallup writer Jeffrey M. Jones notes. "While the percentage of independents fell in the presidential election year, as it often does, it remains higher than it was in the 1990s and 2000s.

"Independent identification usually increases in the year after a presidential election year but typically does not simply revert to its previous level. Rather, the average increase in independents in the year after a presidential election is one percentage point. If that pattern holds, it would be enough to put the percentage of independents back above 40% in 2017, but not back to the higher levels of 2013-2015."

According to Gallup's party affiliation poll, independents still outnumber Republicans and Democrats, with less than 30 percent of voters each.

Gallup surveyed a random sampling of 17,375 adults living in the United States by phone, with a margin of error of +/- 1 percentage points.

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