Unaffiliated voters is a term in United States electorial politics used to describe persons who register to vote, but wish to remain without a party affiliation. Other terms for this include Independent and Undeclared. In the US, 29 states register voters by party affiliation as does the District of Columbia. There are various reasons for persons chosing to remain unaffiliated. The most common reasons are: 1.) disenfranchisement with the two major parties (Democratic and Republican) 2.) to allow more freedom to vote the person, not the party. 3.) members of 3rd parties which do not have a lising on voter registration cards. While affiliation among the Democratic Party declined 8% from 1988 to 2004 and affiliation among the Republican Party declined 2%, unaffiliated voters increased 9%, from 16% of the electorate to 25% of the electorate.[[1]]

Political pundits have associated this increase with the increase of divisive, uncomprimising factions among the two major parties. Unaffiliated voter vary in degree of political involvement. Some are active in social movements, while others simply vote. An unaffiliated voter often receives campaign mail from both candidates running for the same office. An unaffilated voter would face much difficulty in running for public office. However, with many municipal and local offices increasingly becoming non-partisan seats, independents have run for and won a seat in local government. Also of note, Dwight D. Eisenhower was an unaffilliated voter for most of his life, prior to running for the presidency.