Independent candidates appealing to voters turned off by two-party bickering

“I will be the first to say that I'm politically homeless because it feels like neither party wants my common sense as a voter,” said Alex Walker, a mechanical engineer from Durango, Colorado, who recently ran as a Democrat in the state’s 3rd Congressional District primary.

Voters ultimately chose businessman Adam Frisch, who will challenge incumbent Republican Representative Lauren Boebert in November.

“I'm shoved into a shoebox of either left-wing ideology or right-wing ideology when in reality, I think there are parts of both platforms that make sense,” Walker said. “At the same time, the fact that the GOP is turning into new Jim Crow is 100% inexcusable, and I would never be a part of that party in 2022. So I'm a common-sense independent-thinker who ended up a Democrat.”

Walker did not seriously consider running as a third-party candidate because the numbers didn’t add up.

“The math tells us that it is almost impossible to be taken seriously as a candidate who could win a general election if you seek the nomination of a third party,” he added.

Some political scientists say most independents are in name only.

Co-authors of the book "Independent Politics: How American Disdain for Parties Leads to Political Inaction," Samara Klar and Yanna Krupnikov found the political biases of most independent voters are just as strong as anyone registered with a major party.

“Independent voters are not necessarily ideologically moderate,” said Klar, a political science professor at the University of Arizona.

A 2019 Pew poll found while 38% of the nation's voters declared themselves independent, about a third still considered themselves Republicans and a quarter Democrats; 13% leaned Republican and 17% leaned Democrat. Only 7% of independents reported really being independent from the two parties.

“The biggest misconception is that independents are persuasive when it comes to who they're going to vote for. The vast majority of independents have only ever voted for one party in their entire life, and they will sooner die than ever vote for the other party,” Klar said.

As more people associate partisans with the extremist talking heads they see on TV, Klar said voters have distanced themselves from the labels.

“The difference among independents is that they generally don't want to be associated with either of the parties, because there is this negative stigma,” she said.

This decision can come at a political cost to voters, particularly in states with closed primaries, where registered party members choose who runs in the general election.

Some voters register as independents to voice dissatisfaction with their former party.

“I got disgusted with Republicans for not doing what they said they would do. You can’t trust the Democrats, but at least they follow through,” said Kelly Howarth, of Thornton, Colorado, who switched his political affiliation from Republican to independent. Independents and unaffiliated voters can fill out one party’s ballot in the state’s semi-open primary.

Still, Howarth remains consistent in his views.

“I look for people who vote conservative and support Trump,” he said.

Despite the challenges, many third-party and independent candidates believe they can build momentum by offering new ideas. Take the results of the 2020 election, which divided Republicans and Democrats over perceptions of reality — could there be more options beyond the Big Lie and the Great Steal?

“If we had blockchain voting in the first place, I don't think we would have had the Jan. 6th experience,” said Walker, the moderate millennial running under the United Utah Party to represent the 4th Congressional District.

Founded in 2017, the centrist United Utah Party has 2,565 registered members.

“Blockchain voting will essentially bring 100% transparency to our elections and expand voter access for military members and people who are disabled,” Walker said.

Instead of individual votes being counted and reported by a central agency, a blockchain voting system would create a permanent digital ledger of all votes, encrypted to protect individual identity, and accessible to anyone.

The merits of blockchain technology don’t come up in debates between Democrats or Republicans, but Walker said she added it to her campaign platform after listening to the technologically savvy constituents in her district.

“The politics of the past is no longer aligned to the needs of the future,” Walker said. “We have a lot of multi-decade conversations happening and they don't address the issues of today.”

Americans say they want choice in health care, burger toppings and video streaming services. It remains to be seen whether they will also demand it from politics.

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