If the Gallup poll indicating that 49% of people identify as independent is anything to go off of, this is more urgent of a matter than it seems. We're actually

If the Gallup poll indicating that 49% of people identify as independent is anything to go off of, this is more urgent of a matter than it seems. We're actually hitting an inflection point where voters can deny the presidency to either party, but if no third party is available, it would default to a vote by the house from the top 3 candidates by votes, aka a contingent election[0]. This is less than ideal. The majority party of the House would likely just insert their candidate, which would only further disenfranchise voters (who would have voiced their majority desire to not have that candidate.) Provided, people would have to stop falling for the "lesser of two evils" rhetoric, a deliberate ploy to stop the formation of a third party. However, should ideals fracture too much, too many new parties form, and you end up in a contingent election again, as was the case in 1824. [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contingent_election https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contingent_election