People are opting out of the two main political parties
☐ Republican
☐ Democratic
☑ Other
An increasing percentage of voters are registering with a minor party or no party at all. In states that require party affiliation on voter registration (because not all do), three out of four counties had voters shifting away from the Republican and Democratic parties over the past decade.
In some states, both Republican and unaffiliated voter growth drew away from Democratic registration. In North Carolina, unaffiliated registrations grew in every single county, while the Republican share grew alongside it in 78 of the state’s 100 counties. The Democratic share fell in all 100.
In other states, both parties lost ground in roughly equal measure. A prime example of this is Colorado, where unaffiliated and minor party registration climbed 16 percentage points over the decade, while both major parties lost ground.
- In 2016, 38% of Colorado voters were registered as unaffiliated or with a minor party. In 2026, that share had grown to 54%.
- The Democratic share of registrations was 31% in 2016 and declined to 24% in 2026.
- The Republican share of registrations was 31% in 2016 and dropped to 22% in 2026.
(You might assume that some government agency has a number of registered Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters at the ready for public use. But you would be wrong. Check out the Analyst Notes on how we collected and analyzed this voter registration data.)
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Over the last decade, the share of Democratic party registrants fell in 93% of reporting counties nationwide, while the share of Republican party registrants grew in 77%. Explore where US voters are changing direction
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