Independents outnumber Republicans and Democrats, but few are truly independent % who identify as
Among the public overall, 38% describe themselves as independents, while 31% are Democrats and 26% call themselves Republicans, according to Pew Research Center surveys conducted in 2018. These shares have changed only modestly in recent years, but the proportion of independents is higher than it was from 2000-2008, when no more than about a third of the public identified as independents. (For more on partisan identification over time, see the 2018 report “Wide Gender Gap, Growing Educational Divide in Voters’ Party Identification.”)
An overwhelming majority of independents (81%) continue to “lean” toward either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Among the public overall, 17% are Democratic-leaning independents, while 13% lean toward the Republican Party. Just 7% of Americans decline to lean toward a party, a share that has changed little in recent years. This is a long-standing dynamic that has been the subject of past analyses, both by Pew Research Center and others.
Independents outnumber Republicans and Democrats, but few are truly  | independent  | % who identify as  | Democrats 32  | 3  | 33  | 31  | Lean  | Dem  | 10  | 13  | Independents SENET 33 No Lean  | SENET  | SENET 33  | 38  | Lean  | 13  | Rep  | 13  | Republicans 30  | 30  | 26  | 25  | 1994  | 2002  | 2010  | 2018  | Note: Other party/ Don 't know responses not shown.  | Source: Annual totals of Pew Research Center survey data (U.S adults)  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 