Nearly half of voters want a third party — just not Musk’s America Party, startling new poll finds

Roughly half of American voters are open to joining a third party outside the Republican and Democratic duopoly — but aren’t fond of the one created by tech mogul Elon Musk, a startling new poll found.

Forty-nine percent of registered voters indicated they would consider becoming part of a third party, compared to 45% who wouldn’t, a Quinnipiac University poll found.

But a whopping 77% of registered voters said they wouldn’t join Musk’s newly announced self-styled centrist America Party, while only 17% would.

“There is a healthy appetite for a third party among American voters. But with Elon Musk leading the way, not so much,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy observed.

Nationally, 37% of registered voters are Democrats, 31% are Republicans and 32% are Independents, according to a Ballotpedia compilation of data from 33 states and territories.

A Gallup poll found that 28% of respondents consider themselves Democrats, 28% Republicans and 43% Independents.

Musk announced plans to form the America Party earlier this month after he was vexed by Republicans’ passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act amid his widely stated grievances over its impact on the deficit.

The tech billionaire gave sparse details about what his America Party would actually stand for, but indicated plans to focus on key competitive races to tip the balance of power in Congress.

The world’s richest man had largely eschewed politics for most of his career, but had gone all-in on President Trump in the aftermath of the assassination attempt against him last July.

During the 2024 cycle, Musk shelled out an eye-bulging $290 million to help buoy Trump and Republicans.

Trump later brought him into his administration as the driving force behind the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cost-cutting initiative. Musk had made slashing the national deficit his top political priority.

But he has since lamented that the megabill has made a “mockery of the work” done by his DOGE team to slash the deficit. Musk also slammed that marquee bill as “pork-filled” and a “disgusting abomination.”

Musk has also griped that DOGE became a “whipping boy for everything.”

Trump minimized Musk’s America Party attempt as “ridiculous” and chided that “third parties have never worked.”

Quinnipiac University sampled 1,290 registered voters across the country between July 10 and 14 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.