Self-identified independents accounted for a larger share of voters in Tuesday's (Nov 5) US presidential election than Democrats and were tied with Republicans, Edison Research exit polling data showed.

It was the first time since Edison began exit polling in 2004 that independents' share of overall turnout has exceeded that of one of the two major US political parties.

The independent share stood at 34 per cent in the latest update of Edison's exit poll, compared with 34 per cent for Republicans and 32 per cent for Democrats.

The independent turnout share was up eight percentage points from 2020, when at 26 per cent it was a distant third to both Democrats and Republicans.

As in 2020, independents favoured the Democratic candidate — Vice President Kamala Harris — but Republican Donald Trump nonetheless improved his performance with the key swing voter bloc. Some 50 per cent of independents said they voted for Harris and 45 per cent for Trump — a four percentage point improvement for the Republican from 2020.

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