Christian Smith
(NewsNation) – The number of Americans who identify as independent voters is rising as many abandon the Democratic and Republican parties ahead of the upcoming November elections.
Although this move away from party politics can be observed across the country, cities like Colorado Springs, Colorado, incorporate changes in voters’ attitudes. Last year, the city elected its first non-republican mayor, independent Yemi Mobolade.
Mobolade joined “NewsNation Now” to discuss the growing trend, saying it represents a “seismic shift” in American politics.
“What’s happening here locally is actually a small sample of a bigger story of what’s happening across the country,” Mobolade said. “Many people in my city are independent, about 48% of us. I consider us to be the fastest growing political party and I hope to see more and more of this trend happening, not just here, locally, but nationally as well.”
About 6 in 10 American adults have said in Gallup polls since 2013 that the Republican and Democratic parties do “such a poor job of representing the American people” that a third major party is needed.
Dubbed “double haters,” the bloc of voters dissatisfied with both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are trying to decide which of them is less bad for the 2024 elections.
In the latest Gallup poll, much of this enthusiasm is supported by independents: 75% say a third party is needed. About 60% of Republicans and just under half of Democrats (46%) say an alternative is needed.
“Summing up everything we are and our value system into just two political parties is not working for many of us,” Mobolade said.
“One of the three main things you will discover with independents like me is one: we love America, we love this country, we put people and country above partisan politics, and two, we are driven by strong values. I mean, some of these values live in other parties, but we understand that ideology is not enough. And the third thing is that we are very pragmatic,” Mobolade explained.
Both Biden and Trump are widely unpopular, but both have lost just three contests in more than a hundred primaries. This reflects how the Democratic and Republican bases supported Biden and Trump, despite both facing significant political challenges – and in Trump’s case, four criminal charges, the only one of which was resolved leading to a felony conviction.
However, despite all the attention that third parties are attracting nationally this election cycle, some people do not see the rise of political independents as a threat to the country’s dominant political parties.
This is because research has long suggested that the majority of independent voters lean toward one of the two main parties. But party leaning and party affiliation are two different things — and what’s happening in Colorado Springs suggests even to longtime Colorado political experts that the traditional party system may be starting to fall apart.
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