🗳 🇺🇸 📊 Political independents hit their highest level in a decade

Independents have grown to 47% of the population, rising roughly 10 points since just after President Donald Trump’s first term as president, according to CNN polling. Over the last 20 years, CNN polling found independent identification peaked in 2015 at just a shade higher than it is today: 48% of Americans on average across all CNN polling that year were independents

The poll suggests a shift away from Republicans since 2024 among registered voters, another ominous sign for the GOP ahead of the upcoming midterm elections as Trump’s approval ratings have sagged.

Since 2024, younger voters, male voters and White voters without college degrees have shifted away from the GOP, but not necessarily toward the Democrats. In the new poll, 17% of voters younger than 45 say they consider themselves Republicans, down from 26% who said the same in 2024. But the share who call themselves Democrats is fairly steady at 33%, with 50% saying they don’t consider themselves a part of either party. There are similar patterns among men – young men in particular – and White voters without college degrees.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/16/politics/cnn-poll-political-parties-independent-democrats-republicans

🇪🇹⚔️🇪🇷 The Ethiopian governor of the Afar Region has accused Eritrea of sending troops into Tigray and aiding the TPLF in its war against Addis Ababa.

The governor also claims Eritrea wants to cut off Ethiopia from Djibouti as the country has long used Djibouti as its main export-import route.

The Ethiopian Prime-minister, Abiy Ahmed, has stated previously that Ethiopia is going to get access to the global ocean and the Eritrean port of Assab in the country's southeast towards the border with Djibouti is the likely goal of Ahmed due to the port's isolation from the rest of Eritrea, being situated in a sparsely populated area.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1991 after a nearly 30 year long insurgency and civil war, first against the Abyssinian monarchy, the Derg and the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Eritrean rebels fought side by side with the TPLF from 1961 to 1991. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought another war from 1998 to 2000 which ended with a PCA ruling awarding Eritrea most of the disputed border with Ethiopia. The tensions over the new border continued until 2018 when the border was officially demarcated and diplomatic relations were restored between Asmara and Addis Ababa.

Disagreements between Eritrea and Ethiopia over the border which runs through Tigray territory, led to the deterioration of relations between Eritrea and the TPLF which became openly hostile.

The new Eritrean-Ethiopian alliance proved useful for Abiy Ahmed as when the Tigray War broke out in 2020, the Eritrean Army invaded Tigray jointly with the ENDF and helped it defeat the TPLF.

However, with Abiy Ahmed's expansionist policy and Eritrea becoming his main target, the once bitter enemies, the TPLF and Eritrean Defense Force (EDF) are likely cooperating to some extent. It wouldn't be too far fetched to imagine Eritrean involvement in the creation of the Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival which united the TPLF and several other ethnic militias into a single coordinated entity aiming to topple the Ethiopian premier. Getting the ENDF bogged down in a massive civil spanning most of Ethiopia's territory would delay any invasion plans the ENDF may have but it could also backfire.

The renewed insurgency by the TPLF could be used as an excuse by the ENDF to invade Eritrea and take Assab.

🔗 Al Jazeera Arabic