Younger Generations Are Ditching Both The Democratic And Republican Party As Polarization Keeps Rising: Poll

As polarization continues to rise in the U.S., an increasing share of younger Americans say they have abandoned both the national Republican and Democratic parties, new poll shows.

The trend is illustrated by a newt NBC News Stay Tuned Poll, powered by SurveyMonkey, which surveyed 19,682 American adults about the current state of U.S. politics as President Donald Trump reaches his first 100 days in office. The survey was conducted from April 11-20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

The survey showed that 64% of independent voters have an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party and 71% have an unfavorable opinion of the Republican Party. Those figures were about the same among Gen Z independents.

Gen Zers and millennials were also more likely than Gen X and baby boomers to identify themselves as independents. Some young voters pointed out uncertainty about the state of the country and corruption as their main reasons for identifying as independent.

Jack Nagel, 26, an independent California resident who works for GoodParty.org, a startup that helps independent candidates run and serve in office, said in an interview that he "would describe the Democratic Party as frozen." He added, "they are doing nothing to stand in the way of what Trump is trying to accomplish and have no clear message to voters."

Nagel expressed similar frustrations for the Republican Party, which he says is at the hands of a single individual— President Donald Trump.

"I would describe the Republican Party as dominated by one individual right now, and we all know who that is, and that's President Trump. I don't think they also are providing any kind of vision beyond who he is," Nagel told NBC News.

The young voter's views are not unique to him, in fact, the new poll found that 65% of Gen Z independents believe neither Democrats nor Republicans fight for people like them, with 78% saying the country is on the wrong track.

Likewise, the poll also revealed 67% of all independent voters somewhat or strongly disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president. Nearly half (48%) of Gen Zers strongly disapprove, and Gen Z women have the highest disapproval.

The survey comes as President Trump sees a collapse in his approval ratings during his first 100 days in office. He has particularly lost ground on the economy, with more voters expressing displeasure with his handling of inflation and with his sweeping push for global tariffs, which have roiled the stock market and scrambled global alliances.

Yet a silver lining for the president is that the public seems to be less than impressed with the Democratic Party as well, with only 38% of voters having a favorable impression of the party, compared to 43% who think the same of the Republican Party, according to a recent analysis from The Hill.