Who Will Choose the Next President of the United States?

We all wonder who the next President of the United States will be. The bigger question may be who is going to choose him - or her?

Most likely the next US President will be either Republican or Democrat. But it's not going to be the Republicans or the Democrats that select the next commander-in-chief.

A new Gallup poll shows that more and more Americans don't want to affiliate with either major party, a trend that has been on-going for years.

The poll indicates that just 29 percent of Americans identify as Democrats - which is a record low. Meanwhile, only 26% identify as Republicans, just one percentage point off from being a record low.

For the fifth consecutive year, the largest political group among voters is the independents, at 42%. This is the group that will be deciding the upcoming presidential election

It's not unusual to have more Americans identifying as independents. According to Gallup, it wasn't until 2011 that the percentage reached the 40% off.

You have to figure most Democratic voters are going to vote Democrat, and Republicans go with the Republican candidate. So, that leaves a large number of people without particular loyalty to either party. These are the people candidates will be going after in the next several months. These are the people who will choose our next president.

The Republican and Democratic voters may choose the candidates, but it's the Independents that will ultimately choose the president. The other part of the equation is the fact that most independents will lean one way or another without claiming official affiliation.

Taking that into account, Gallup says 45% of the Americans are Democrats, or Democrat leaners, with 42% being Republicans or Republican leaners.

[GALLUP]