The following article is a guest submission and is republished for its relevance to third party and independent politics. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Outsider Media Foundation or Independent Political Report. Readers can learn more about the author in the bio at the end of the article.
In politics, as of today, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat or an independent?
— Annual trend since 1988
The Gallup Poll has been asking this question of voters since 1988. The responses since 1988 are all HERE for you to enjoy, especially if you’re an independent. In 2024, the percentage of independents was 43% — a strong plurality. We can hardly wait to see what our numbers are in 2025, as we Americans bear witness to the sinking of the Titanic — America’s two-in-one-party rulers by default.
Be a good independent — read this article — be sure not to miss the subtitle:
Word on the street is that Elon Musk is unserious about forming his new political party, the America Party. He hasn’t filed the papers in states around the country to establish a new political party. Surprised? We aren’t, because say what you want about Musk, but he ain’t stupid. Ross Perot sunk a lot of money into a wonderul and massive failure, the Reform Party USA. Some of LIV’s founders were there. We failed and we learned something very important and basic about independent voters. They (we) cannot be shoved into a single political party, though we have become more important to reforming American policy and our political misconduct. That said, unbeaching the white whale of American politics — independent voters — needs and deserves creative experimentation. That’s not having a rich guy fund his own party in his own image.
Most Americans during the Perot era 30 years ago crossed the Rubicon — a point of no return — to believing in American (two-party) politics and politicians. Perot was on his way to win the presidency in 1992 when he suddenly dropped out. His volunteers continued to petition for a place on the ballot and pulled Perot back into the race to garner a whopping 19% of the vote. That was huge but hugely ignored.
But that was also when the notion of “taking the politics out of politics” was born in the hearts of millions of Americans.
In the end, Perot himself — through his emissary Russ Verney, quoted in this snarky recent Politico piece about Elon’s dalliance with independent politics, Advice for Elon Musk from the Most Successful Third-Party Campaign in Modern History, killed the most promising new party in the last 40 years, the Reform Party USA.
With the Perot movement dead, the then pro-choice Donald Trump eventually adopted the “America First agenda,” a Christian nationalist agenda, as he pushed the idea (a powerful promise the Democrats had spurned) that he would serve as an “anti-war” President for “free speech.” Lesson Learned: Populism is powerful, and shit happens. What happens next in the story about unbeaching America’s Great White Whale — independent voters — is most important. Pay attention, y’all, because the knife fight between the Democrats and the Republicans will not end well without the education and organizing of independents who are the voters capable of taking the politics out of politics, even just a little.
Speaking of knife fights, be sure to read the latest from Harvey Kronberg of Quorum Report, the Texas political anaylist we independents trust in his latest, “In bid to remove Democrats from office Abbott ignores his own previous opinion as AG on separation of powers.”
Americans are regularly presented with Third Parties, but do not support them in adequate numbers.
Independent voters may make up the largest segment of the voting population, but they have no common ideology or outlook, and certainly no identifiable leaders..
Unaffiliated voters can’t be organized based primarily on their status as unaffiliated.