Coming as no surprise considering the current state of the major political parties, a recent Gallup poll showed that Millennials and Gen Z Americans are remaining politically “Independent” and free of any party affiliation. In fact, more of these young Americans identify as Independent than as Republican and Democrat combined.
The poll found that 52 percent of both Gen Z and Millennials identify as Independent. And 21 percent of Millennials identify as Republican, while 27 percent picked Democrat. Only 17 percent of Gen Z identifies as Republican and 31 percent as Democrat.
Center Square reported:
“Historically, Americans have had weak attachments to the two major U.S. political parties in young adulthood, but as they get older, they usually became more likely to identify as a Republican or a Democrat,” Gallup said. “That historical pattern, evident in the Silent and baby boom generations, appears to be changing. Generation X and millennials, who are now middle aged or approaching it, have maintained or even expanded their identification as political independents in recent decades.”
Older Americans lean less Independent and more Republican.
“Currently, 44 percent of Generation X identifies as political independents, which is unchanged from three decades ago, when the first part of the generation was entering adulthood,” Gallup said. “The majority of millennials, 52 percent, are independent, and that percentage has increased by five percentage points in each of the past two decades. Meanwhile, Gallup data show far lower, and declining, proportions of independents among the Silent Generation (now 26 percent) and baby boomers (now 33 percent), consistent with the historical pattern.”
(The Gallup poll results are based on aggregated data from 2022 Gallup surveys to date, encompassing more than 6,000 interviews with U.S. adults and at least 500 in each generation.)
But are these Gen Z and Millennial Independents who claim no association to a party truly independent? A 2019 Pew Research Center report took a detailed look at Independent Americans. The report illustrated that independents have lower levels of political participation and are demographically different from those who affiliate with a party — and that their views are often as divided as those of self-identified partisans.
The Pew Research Center report found these six interesting facts about political Independents:
- Nearly four-in-ten U.S. adults (38%) identify as politically independent, but most “lean” toward one of the two major parties.
- Independents who lean to one of the two parties are often much closer to partisans in their views than they are to independents who lean to the other party.
- On some issues, there are significant differences between leaners and partisans.
- Independents — particularly the 7 percent of Americans who don’t lean toward a party — are less politically engaged than partisans.
- Independents feel more negatively about political candidates and parties than partisans.
- Independents are younger and more likely to be male than partisans.
With the results of the Gallop Poll and the Pew Research Center report, Gen Z and Millennial Americans are making the political world less predictable and potentially forcing the two major political parties to rethink their platforms or go the way of the Whig Party.
The trends found in this recent poll do highlight the desire of many of these young Americans to not be associated with any party. That would have made George Washington happy, as he believed political parties would divide and destroy the nation. And that’s definitely where we find ourselves with the current vitriol and division between Republicans and Democrats today.
Then you have people’s life’s journeys and circumstances that influence their party affiliation and voting choices. Some might say the popular maxim often attributed to Sir Winston Churchill rings true in this case: “Any man under 30 who is not a liberal has no heart, and any man over thirty who is not a conservative has no brains.”
The fact that a growing number of these young Americans are choosing to stay away from any party affiliation will definitely change the face of politics, including how to run successful campaigns and election advertising. The young people of America are the nation’s next leaders, and will have a growing impact on this nation’s future. One can only hope that they return to our Founders’ vision of a free republic and subscribe to the tenets of the U. S. Constitution.
