The Year of the Independent?

Yesterday on the RealClearPolitics Podcast, Greg Orman, who ran for governor of Kansas in 2014 as an independent, said this year might be the “year of the independent.” Why? Well, for starters, according to a Gallup poll released in January of this year, more people than ever are self-identifying as political independents. Of the 13,000 people Gallup surveyed in 2025, a record 45% said they were independents, including majorities of Gen Z voters (56%) and millennials (54%).

Another interesting data point on independents comes out of North Carolina. Voter registrations in the state rebounded this week after a month of declines. Of the 13,400 new voters added to the rolls in the Tar Heel state, 81.4% of them registered as “unaffiliated” – boosting the overall total of independent voters in the state to 39.3%, nearly 10 points higher than those registered in the Republican Party (30.1%) and the Democratic Party (30.0%).

While Democrats have been buoyed by numerous electoral victories over the past year – including flipping a Florida State House seat in Donald Trump’s back yard in Palm Beach last week – there is still a decent amount of animus toward both major political parties. According to the latest RealClearPolitics Averages, the favorable rating for the Democratic party stands at just 35.3%, while its unfavorable rating is 55.7%. The GOP doesn’t fare much better, with a favorable rating of 38.9% and an unfavorable rating of 53.8%.

With growing discontent over the partisan bickering in Washington that is directly responsible for massive delays at airports, and little relief for those feeling suffocated by the cost of living, the possibility for a “pox on both their houses” mentality could lead voters to look for an out-of-the-box option.

As Orman pointed out, former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has mounted a serious bid for governor in Michigan, and the latest poll taken in January shows him with 26% of the vote in the 3-way race. There is a declared independent Senate candidate in Montana, and potential independent candidates in Kansas and Nebraska this cycle.

Could one or more of them break through in a political climate where voters appear to increasingly have a “throw all the bums out” attitude? Stay tuned.