By Jane Susskind (IVN) – A recent NBC poll confirms that the partisan political environment is, in fact, taking a toll on the two major parties, with voter registration revealing that self-identified independents are the fastest growing voting bloc in America.
NBC commentators coin it "the rise of an 'independents' era," reporting that in 2014 the number of people self-identifying as independent was at 39 percent, passing that of Democrats (32 percent) and Republicans (23 percent). 

45% of voters now self-identify as independent #election @chucktodd Click To Tweet

As of June 2015, the number of self-identifying independents has grown to 45 percent — just 2 points shy of the number of Democrats and Republicans COMBINED.

"The largest political party in the United States in no longer a party at all," NBC commentator Chuck Todd reports. 

"In the 31 states plus the District of Columbia where voters have to pick a party when registering to vote, unaffiliated or no party voters are now the leading political party in 12 of those state, and in a few of them, they are the majority of all registered voters." – Chuck Todd, NBC News