My parents met each other in the radical movement and were friends with hippies right when my identity was taking shape at the end of the Sixties. So I never identified with either major party. Given the closed primary system, I’ve sometimes affiliated with a major party for functional purposes, and sometimes with a minor party for either functional or expressive ones, but I decide each vote on the basis of my fundamental values and a judgment about which choice will best serve to advance them.

I have always considered Myself to be a JFK Liberal Democrat but, I don’t know what this Party is about anymore. I’ve been a Voting Democrat my whole life, up until a few weeks ago, when I registered as an Independent Voter.

Would the real American please stand up? Perhaps an active third party might keep the other two in better form!

I’m tired of the few, I don’t agree with either parties lets change the voice and vote for us minorities

I have always felt that it’s not the party but the PERSON running and their policies that are important to me.

Registered Republican liberal voter. Though registered Republican I may vote for whomever I wish on my vote which is supposed to be secret ballot. I believe in voting for the people that seem to be the person which are pushing what I believe and who would work for my idealistic opinions. Everyone has this right to vote for whom they please

I’m a registered Republican, if not agreeing with the party, usually would vote for anyone that supports the same as I. Your vote is supposed to be secret to you no one else. VOTE FOR your own concise . A strong independent party that can put the best of both and help to all.

1. Both parties are self focused and deaf to majority of citizens.

2. PACs shelter cowards and serve no rational function.

3. We are an open primary state, but that is no help when there are urgent races on opposing ballots or races where the final elected person is determined in the primary.

I would like all elections to be publicly funded only and currently we are being dictated to by an oligarchy and corporate influence as they can provide way more funding than average citizens can. I feel that they 2 party system has been corrupted by this. Therefore I vote for and support the Green Party because they ONLY run on donations from actual individuals not corporate, Dark or special interest PAC funds

When I was old enough to vote, I liked the principles of Abraham Lincoln and thought that I would want to become a Republican; that quickly changed when I discovered how self-serving they were then and are now. I had not heard of Independents and became a Democrat, married and moved to Denmark where, as an American citizen, I could not vote. When I divorced and came back to the USA, I became dissatisfied with the “Poor Me” of the Democratic Party, “Only Me” of the Republican Party, and of PARTY Politics as a whole. However, our system gave me limited choices, so I became a Democrat.

I don’t like being told what to think and do, much less by a political ideology. More than 20 some of years later after I left the Democratic Party, they still haven’t discovered than I became an Independent. I vote for a person who listens to the voice of Americans and who will do the best job for all of us regardless of Party.

I absolutely dislike our electoral college because of the way it is used and misused. We are individuals who vote and the voice of the majority should unite us but, unfortunately, doesn’t under our present two-party structure. I believe that Party Politics pits ideology against ideology, exacerbating the negatives in the two-party system. The choices I am often given by this present electoral system excludes rather than includes ALL Americans.

Furthermore, I am disgusted by the partisanship in our Supreme Court, the antics exhibited the majority of its members who took an oath to stand by our Constitution but don’t, relying primarily on what they are told to do by a political party, accepting gifts from people who are politically biased, and taking political sides in debates.

The only choice I have in expressing my views was and is Independence.

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Our founding fathers must be rolling over in their graves if they were to see the abomination we call American Politics. The 2 party system is broken! Both the Democratic and Republican parties only represent the most EXTREMIST and POLARIZING viewpoints. The truth is the majority of Americans believe in moderation and compromise as the best method to represent the majority of Americans. As an Independent voter and thinker I want to see

common sense return to politics before it’s too late and our beloved country implodes in EXTREMISM. Decent, good candidates refuse to participate in this “cesspool” of a system. It’s time for the SILENT MAJORITY to RISE UP and tell these 2 parties to STOP! WE, the INDEPENDANT AMERICANS DEMAND BETTER REPRESENTATION from our Politicians! Make Your Voice heard now!

For most of my adult voting years, I’ve voted Democrat, but after the Dems stole the nomination from Burnie Sanders in 2020, I now consider myself an independent voter. In my opinion, both the Republican and Democratic parties have shown their disregard for what the American people need and want. Just look at the two presidential candidates offered to the American public for the second time in a row! America has the most brilliant human talent pool in the world and Trump and Biden are the best we can do?!?!… Just now, the Dems kicked Biden to the curb and it’s all about Kamala Harris now. With this rare opportunity to have a primary and let the people decide who they would want as the nominee, It’s once again all about money and power for the Dems, not the prosperity and will of the American people. So instead of a democratic process, we have the coronation of Harris. Ralph Nadar once commented that the only difference between the Dems and Republicans is the speed at which their knees hit the floor when begging the lobbyists and special interest groups for money. I’m also reminded of George Washington’s concern for political parties’ thirst for power at the expense of American society. Here’s a passage from the first president concerning the perils of political parties.

" However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. " I’m certain that a viable 3rd party coming into prominent power will not happen in my lifetime, but both current parties need a huge reality check and to be dismantled and recreated in a fashion the supports the American public, not rich corporate puppet masters.

As a naturalized citizen, I came to American politics very late in the game – or with fresh eyes – depending on your perspective. The similarities between the two main parties, I believe, is such that the difference between them can be obscured at times. The result is that, on either side, there are NO candidates worthy of voting for, in my perception. The political process should be about policies and prioritizing what is best for American citizens, (whether Republicans or Democrats!), but it is not. Personalities take precedence over positive politics, as we can clearly see. I have been in America for almost 20 years now and in that time, I have watched as the political divide has become an almost insurmountable chasm. Rather than serving Americans well, the two main parties, by their actions, are creating division between American citizens. Until or unless this ‘fault line’ in American politics can be resolved, the Nation as a whole will increasingly lose the once proud title of the ‘United states of America’. One path towards healing the rift is to legislate a third party, independents, which has all equal rights with the outdated two party system.

Because there has to be another way. For a long time, I felt as if I had no other choice. Independent candidates never make the cut in the end, so it was either Democrat or Republican. But then I remembered something important: change only happens if everyone plays their part. And I’d like to see things change.

My only alternative, given the general rot in both parties, is to vote for the lesser of evils. Since the Demonrats are totally rotten to the very core, this invariably forces me to vote Republican while holding my nose. I believe Mr. Trump is the only real hope for our nation!

My only alternative

Both parties are horrible. We need more parties. Two don’t represent everyone. I’ve been independent my entire life. I vote with Dems because they have a heart. Republican Party is a pile of feces , now more than ever, with trump

I’m independent I don’t vote for a party but for the person who’s value’s and beliefs align with my own.

But more often it’s voting for the lesser of two evils.

This year it’s different it’s paramount we defeat Trump and Trumpism. Yes I will for Harris and I’m voting Pete Buttigieg or Tim Walz.