A full 45% of American adults identify as political independents. That’s far higher than the share – 27% each – who say they are either Democrats or Republicans, according to a 2026 report by Gallup. Nationally, according to another source, one-fifth of voters “are so independent that they do not vote consistently for one party or the other.”
Yet only three out of 535 members of Congress are independents – two senators (one each from Maine and Vermont) and one representative (from California).
This growing gap between public preference and the composition of Congress has prompted a retired senator, Joe Manchin, and
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