Majority of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling tariffs: ABC/Post/Ipsos poll

(WASHINGTON) — Republican Rep. Mike Turner defended the U.S. war with Iran on Sunday and said that he doesn’t believe an American ground force would be required to restore freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

“I don’t think U.S. ground troops are going to be necessary in any direct conflict,” Turner told ABC News’ “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos after being pressed on whether troops on the ground would be needed to reopen the strait.

“The straits are going to be open,” Turner told Stephanopoulos, but said that the U.S. cannot allow Iran to continue developing missile technology or nuclear weapons that could threaten the American homeland and Europe.

“You have to be able to address this … great sponsor of terrorism, this … global power ambition that Iran has,” he said.

Turner’s comments come as President Donald Trump has repeatedly indicated that the Strait of Hormuz is not the U.S.’s problem.

“The United States imports almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait and won’t be taking any in the future. We don’t need it. We haven’t needed it and we don’t need it,” Trump said Wednesday in a prime-time address to the nation, adding that it was the responsibility of other countries to secure the strait.

“We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on,” he said.

Turner said that despite the impact of the war on global oil markets, the consequences of inaction from the U.S. against Iran would have been greater.

“Certainly, you know, Iran is going to have some things that they’re going to be able to do during the conflict,” Turner said. “But if you don’t undertake the conflict, if you just step back and watch, as the Obama administration was going to do while Iran became a nuclear power and they became North Korea, we wouldn’t be looking at the Strait of Hormuz,” he added, claiming that if Iran had developed nuclear weapons the world would be “held hostage by a terrorist state.”

“They still are being significantly diminished,” Turner said, “and their ability to be able to be marching toward a nuclear state is being eliminated.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Friday is one step closer to passing a funding package after Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham ended his blockade — still a partial government shutdown is all but certain to happen.

After intense negotiations proceeded throughout the day, an 11th-hour deal struck by Senate Democrats and White House, which would see the Department of Homeland Security funding bill separated from a package of five other funding bills, obtained the consent of all 100 senators to advance ahead of Friday night’s deadline.

But it is likely that even if the Senate passes the bills, there will still be a short partial shutdown as the legislation would need to go back to the House for reconsideration.

Sen. Graham earlier Friday had outlined his demands for lifting his blockade: a promise of a vote at a later date on his bill to end so-called sanctuary cities that resist the administration’s immigration policies, and a vote related to controversial Arctic Frost provisions, which allow members of Congress to sue the government if federal investigators gain access to their phone records without their knowledge. Those provisions were stripped out of the funding package passed by the House.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, Graham said Senate Majority Leader John Thune was supportive of his stipulations.

“I will lift my hold and vote for the package,” Graham said.

Thune said the Senate is set to vote on the slate of amendments Friday evening.

Meanwhile, the House is in recess until Monday, and Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang on Thursday night that bringing lawmakers back before then “may not be possible.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the chamber’s top Democrat, earlier Friday would not say whether he supported the spending agreement reached between Senate Democrats and the White House.

“There’s no agreement that’s been before us,” Jeffries said. “Right now, Lindsey Graham apparently is holding up the agreement, threatening to shut down the government, because apparently Senate Republicans still support using taxpayer dollars to brutalize American citizens and on top of it to make matters worse.”

The agreement announced Thursday would see most of the federal government funded through September, while DHS would be funded for two additional weeks at current spending levels to allow lawmakers to negotiate on other provisions in the package. 

The funding fight over DHS erupted in the aftermath of the death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, who was killed in a shooting involving federal law enforcement in Minneapolis over the weekend.

Jeffries insisted Democrats will not back down on their demands for reform at the department, including obtaining judicial warrants — rather than the lower bar of administrative warrants, barring Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel from wearing masks and mandating that body-worn cameras be turned on, and ending roving raids by ICE. 

“Democrats in the Senate, led by Chuck Schumer, supported by the House, made a clear demand: Separate out the five bills that clearly have bipartisan support, and then separately we can deal with making sure that ICE is brought under control in a variety of different ways, including our demand, which we will not walk away from, which is that judicial warrants should be required before ICE can storm homes and rip people out of their cars,” Jeffries said.

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(WASHINGTON) — With a polarized political climate approaching the high-stakes 2026 midterm elections, more Americans are identifying as independents than ever before, according to a Gallup poll conducted throughout 2025.

A record-high 45% of Americans called themselves political independents in 2025. The figure is a record since Gallup started measuring in 1988 — with the previous high for independents at 43% in 2014, 2023 and 2024.

Gallup found that an equal share of Americans identified as Republicans and Democrats — 27% each.

These findings come as the midterm elections approach in November and several tight races are expected as Republicans in the House try to maintain their slim majority so they can work to push President Donald Trump’s agenda. Both Republicans and Democrats will have to appeal to independents to win any tight races nationwide.

Thomas Nickel, an 85-year-old who lives in California, told ABC News that he has been independent for several years after leaving the Democratic Party. Nickel left his former party because he said he believes Democrats have not pushed hard enough for issues that are “necessary” — specifically mentioning health care coverage. He said universal health coverage is a priority for him, which he said he believes neither party has focused on.

Trump, who has been a vocal critic of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, unveiled his new health care proposal earlier this month, which presents a proposal to shift government insurance subsidies directly to consumers through health savings accounts and take advantage of his “most favored nation” drug price initiative. However, Trump’s proposal has left experts unsure on how impactful these ideas could be.

When asked about his thoughts on the president’s recent health care proposal, Nickel called it “ridiculous,” and added that an average person won’t be able to afford to pay for their own insurance with money they would receive directly. When asked what he would like to see Democrats do, Nickel noted that the ACA is “a step in the right direction,” but that “there’s going to be 25% of people that can’t even afford the health care premiums for the Medicare assistance.”

A Louisiana resident who did not want to disclose his name told ABC News that he is an independent because of how “divisive” politics have become. He said he remains a registered Republican so that he can vote in Republican primaries. Some states hold closed primaries where only voters registered with a certain party can vote in that party’s primary; other states hold open primaries where voters of any affiliation can vote in the primary of any party.

“I think, in recent years, especially the last decade or so, things have gotten so divisive that it feels like the minority on both sides speak for the majority,” he said, adding that he believes both parties “had alienated their voter base by being so polarizing.” He cited the Trump administration’s push to acquire Greenland as “a game of Risk,” but didn’t give specifics on Democrats’ actions he found polarizing.

Zach Servis — a 27-year-old independent who lost his bid for mayor for Jackson, Mississippi, last year — also said that the political climate is “way too polarized and hateful.”

Servis said he left the Republican Party around 2020 during the height of COVID after recognizing what he described as “hypocrisy” of his former party. He pointed to Republicans not supporting social programs such as the ACA, but willingness to help other countries — something he said is not in line with Trump’s “America First” slogan.

Looking ahead to this year’s midterm elections, Servis said he believes that independent voters have enough “power to shift which side wins.”

“I think that independent politics have an opportunity to shape this midterm where some of these parties are going to have to shift a little bit in how they win these voters — and if they’re not willing to come a little more to the middle or reach across the aisle, they’re going to risk people crossing the aisle entirely and voting even for a party they don’t believe in because at least that person’s willing to listen,” Servis said.

Generational shifts in political affiliations

The increase in the share of independents is partly attributable to a larger percentage of younger generations of Americans remaining independent as they age — compared to older generations who are less likely to remain unaffiliated, according to Gallup.

Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2007, has the highest percentage of independents, with 56% identifying as independent, Gallup found.

Gen Z is also less likely to identify as Republican compared to older generations, with 17% identifying as Republican compared to 37% of the Silent Generation (born before 1946).

Gallup found 27% of Gen Z identifying as Democrats compared to 32% of the Silent Generation.

Karine Jean-Pierre, who became an independent after serving in the Biden administration as White House press secretary, told ABC News that she believes the growing percentage of independents is not “temporary” and will continue to reshape the electorate in this 2026 election year.

“I do think there’s power amongst independents. The thing that is changing the electorate is changing in the sense of that you’re seeing more and more independents,” Jean-Pierre told ABC News.  

Jean-Pierre also noted that younger generations may be reluctant to join a political party as a way to “express moral concern” over U.S. involvement in global issues.

She also noted that young independents deserve a seat at the table as the midterms approach.

“I don’t think independents, especially young independents, are disengaged,” Jean-Pierre said. “I think what they’re doing is they’re growing numbers — put pressure on both political parties to earn support with real policy results, rather than just assuming loyalty based on branding or identity.”

The Gallup poll was conducted throughout 2025 among 13,454 U.S. adults nationwide and has a margin of error of +/- 1 percentage point.

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