2016 reversed a years-long trend toward political independence


In 2014, a record number of Americans — 43 percent — identified as political independents, easily outnumbering those who labeled themselves Democrats (30 percent) or Republicans (26 percent). Those figures, and 2015's very similar statistics, represent the peak of a years-long trend away from major party identification.
Then 2016 happened.
New Gallup poll results find the election year saw a sharp spike in partisanship, with independent identification dropping to its lowest rate in six years at 39 percent. Make no mistake: The single largest group of Americans are still independents, but the major parties reclaimed some territory.
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With the exception of 2012, however, previous election years saw a similar rise in partisanship, suggesting this is likely just a temporary, cyclical set-back.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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