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Politics Podcast: Americans Are More Independent But Just As Partisan

For decades, independents have made up a larger share of the electorate than Democrats or Republicans, and in recent years, this number has grown even larger. According to Gallup, they now make up about 40 percent of voters. But despite those figures, most independents are actually loyal to one party or the other.

In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, the crew discusses why the number of independents has been growing and what it means for our politics. They also ask why support for gun control measures hasn’t translated into new laws and look at steps the Pew Research Center is taking to ensure their panel surveys include a representative sample of Republicans.

You can listen to the episode by clicking the “play” button in the audio player above or by downloading it in iTunes, the ESPN App or your favorite podcast platform. If you are new to podcasts, learn how to listen.

The FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast is recorded Mondays and Thursdays. Help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a rating and review on iTunes. Have a comment, question or suggestion for “good polling vs. bad polling”? Get in touch by email, on Twitter or in the comments.

Galen Druke is FiveThirtyEight’s podcast producer and reporter.

Nate Silver founded and was the editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight.

Sarah Frostenson is FiveThirtyEight’s former politics editor.

Geoffrey Skelley is a senior elections analyst at FiveThirtyEight.

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