Young Americans are increasingly rejecting the Democratic and Republican parties, a new poll shows

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/poll-independents-moderates-republicans-democrats-trump-ba353eb6807fd854f5b6e6de52d152fa

Young Americans are increasingly rejecting the Democratic and Republican parties, a new poll shows
By LINLEY SANDERS and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX
Updated 11:22 AM CST, January 12, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are increasingly rejecting the two major political parties, according to new polling.

Just under half, 45%, of U.S. adults now identify as independents, a new Gallup survey found. That’s a substantial shift from 20 years ago, when closer to one-third of Americans said they didn’t identify with the Democrats or Republicans.

This group appears, increasingly, to be driven by their unhappiness with the party in power, according to Gallup’s analysis. That’s a dynamic that could be good for Democrats in this year’s midterm elections, but doesn’t promise lasting loyalty. Independents have gravitated toward the Democrats over the past year when asked which party they lean toward, Gallup found, but attitudes toward the party haven’t gotten warmer. That suggests that the Democrats’ gains are probably more related to independents’ increasingly sour views of President Donald Trump.

Younger people, in particular, are rejecting the parties at much higher rates than older generations. More than half of Generation Z and Millennials identify as political independents, while a majority of older generations side with a party. That’s different from the past, when more young adults identified with the Democrats or the Republicans. And it’s part of the reason why frequent, dramatic swings in political power may become increasingly normal.

...

[bucolic_frolic]

1. These clowns live in a binary click-bait world

They're throwing out the baby with the bathwater. They will create a world run by polls. Good luck, and I doubt their methods can be reversed.

[Celerity]

14. Gen Z had a higher % of Dems than Millennials or Gen X in the poll, and Gen Z had the lowest Rethug % of any cohort

[Omnipresent]

2. From this, we would need to find out why the Democratic is turning them off.

They evidently don’t like certain things in particular.

[RockCreek]

4. perhaps this should be taken up in "the way forward"

I'm assuming that that forum still exists.
It is a place to speak a bit more about the flaws in this party with the goal of improvement.

[sboatcar]

5. I think its a lot of our leaders not taking a strong enough stance

You look at politicians like Tim Walz, Jacob Frey, Josh Shapiro, and Gavin Newsom, and they're all standing up and saying what needs to be said. We need MORE of our people in congress and the senate to start doing the same. They're losing the young people because they're not standing up for them.

[Moostache]

6. Many in the Party (and frankly on sites like DU) do not want to confront these reasons...

One, because they are not amenable with popular internal positions; and Two, because Democrats in general have an image problem that allows them to be perceived, lampooned or propagandized as "weak".

Defense of unpopular positions is not in and of itself a problem, but failure to control the messaging AND present messengers that exude confidence and strength to non-initiates of the Party platform are important. Take Chuck Schumer as an example and I present this NOT as an attack on Senator Schumer as a politician and certainly not as a truly dedicated public servant - ONLY from an image perspective. He absolutely reeks of weakness. His physical appearance, posture, manner of talking, decades of time in tightly insular circles of power...these all combine to end if in painful images like him attempting to lead to lead a chant to a crowd and it coming out in that horrible image of his non-rhymical "we will win" that in the modern vernacular is cringy.

We need to have a serious discussion about the leadership of the party, the presentation of the central party messages and a clear plan to stop being savaged in the press with poor images. We need to be asking why is Bernie Sanders (still NOT a Democrat) more effective at messaging and speaking to youth than our chosen leaders? That uncomfortable conversation is like milk left out of the fridge...it does NOT get better or easier to deal with as it ages.

[KLK1972]

10. This generation has been raised

to be entertained 24/7- they've literally had tablets in their hands entertaining them since toddlerhood. Their brains have developed around a constant stream of electronic stimulation. It's absolutely changed the way they think, feel, and operate. They NEED any content they consume (and they consume vast vast quantities of it) to POP, have visual and auditory appeal, and it all needs to be packaged in short, punchy, easy to parse bursts. They do not read anything that's longer than a few lines of text, they certainly are not taking a deep dive into philosophical writings of Plato or Nietzsche or literary giants like Tolstoy or Dickens. They're not rejecting Democrats out of any deep place of principle. They're not rejecting Republicans for that reason either. They simply gravitate to whatever is the flashiest, funniest, most meme-able cult of personality they see. Frankly, I have little hope for the future and we did it ourselves by putting those devices in those tiny little fists to begin with.

*Disclaimer- this is a broad generalization stated in frustration after working with younger people in recent years. I fully acknowledge its not fair to generalize and there are plenty of exceptions to this. I just don't believe there are *enough*.

[Historic NY]

3. They rather doom scroll then to tun into whats happening

[AloeVera]

7. Perhaps they're "doom-scrolling" because they already figured it out.

The "what's happening" part I mean. The young especially. When the young lose hope, we're all in trouble.

[Alansworld]

8. Not surprised

Maybe it will change when we oldsters quit trying to beat down our young aspirants trying to take the reins of leadership.

[JT45242]

9. Just speaking about my 2 sons (19&24)

They hate the Republicans because they do evil things.

They hate the Democrats because they do nothing.

They absolutely hate Biden, Harris. Shumer, Jefferies etc as having done almost nothing when they had power.
1. They did not blow up the filibuster in the Senate to get things through
2. They didn't pass legislation on student loan debt...an executive order killed by the sinister six us viewed as doing worse than nothing. You promised something and didn't deliver.
3. They didn't eliminate the trump tax cuts and tax the rich.
4. Every accomplishment (chips, infrastructure, etc) is so far in the future that they think none if it will happen because the Republicans will write laws to undo all of it and refund them.
5. Biden and his administration are complicit in Trump's evil because they slow walked all prosecutions and did not release the Epstein files. They think that there are a lot of dem and Republicans mega donors that are being protected by both parties.
6. They think that the Democrats are just as much bought and paid for by billionaires trying to ruin the world as the Republicans,...

I don't agree with a lot of that. But they do not accept the notion that making perfection the enemy if the good is the problem.

[RockCreek]

11. I would argue that they ard not even asking for perfection

They are asking for firm progress that cannot be undone immediately by the next administration.
They are asking for progress in *their* time. What I mean by "their time" is that 4 years is a LOT of time when you are younger - - high school, college, other hige transitions in a young person's life take place within the 4 years of one presidential term.

[everyonematters]

12. Sometimes it is hard to know where to begin in explaining this, but we have to earn the trust of these voters.

If we don't, we will continue swapping elections with the Republicans. There needs to be major anti-corruption legislation. We need to push economic policies that go beyond just reversing that of Trump's, policies that grow and strengthen the middle class. The minimum wage hasn't been raised since the Clinton administration. It can be done.

[themaguffin]

13. When this is reflected in elections etc., I'll believe it. It's one thing to say that in betw elections, it's..

another thing when it comes to elections.