What Is an Independent Voter?
An independent voter is a person who does not want to be affiliated with any particular political party. In the United States, this means independent voters do not consider themselves to be part of either the Republican or Democratic parties.
Independent voters constitute about 40 percent of total registered voters, according to IndependentVoting.org. Independent voters vote for who they believe is the best candidate in each election, so they may vote Republican one year and Democrat the next. In some states, people are required to register as either Republicans or Democrats in order to vote in primary elections, so independent voters may register with one particular party, although they do not consider themselves to be members of that party.
