In America, Every Day Is Independents' Day

Americans love the concept of independence, whether it's about annually celebrating freedom from the British or fetishizing individualism. In honor of America's Independence Day, we figured it was as good a time as any to explore America's political independents.¹

What makes this a tricky task, though, is that independents aren't really all that, well, independent in their beliefs. In fact, the overwhelming majority of independents lean toward one party or the other and have ideologies that closely mirror those parties.

That suggests independents aren't so much bound together by what they believe as by a refusal to label themselves. That makes for a messy demographic picture. So here's a dive into what this complicated group looks like, by the numbers:

1. Being independent is in style

In the 1990s, who considered themselves independents hovered below in late 2014. Indeed, for most of the time since 2010, a plurality of Americans have claimed they are politically independent.