Are proclamations of being independent mostly hollow? Do people who proclaim independence really desire one set of beliefs and political choices over another?

Far too often claims of being an independent seem to come from people wishing to distance themselves from a party whose beliefs they generally hold but they dislike the party or certain positions and therefore claim independence. In the end, the vast majority of these people's beliefs still will align with one party or another. When push comes to shove they either vote with them or vote for some other random candidate (perhaps of the opposite party) because of one issue.

Even single issue voters do not seem to make that much sense. Most issues will have enough talk and passion for them that they seem to be coopted into one party or another. The other party will usually find itself putting their party in opposition to the policy. Though, if there is enough backlash of the policy within the general public, the party on the wrong side of the issue (politically speaking) will often amend their view or take a more neutral stance. That may have essentially happened with "defund the police." Though currents of that are still prominent within the Democratic party, they do seem to have toned their message down a bit. I'm sure there are examples of that on both sides.

There may be this other category of very casual political actor whose choices in elections are rather ill-informed. These people may claim to be independent and their political engagement may be all over the map, when they do enter the political fray. I think these casual and single issue or flight-of-the-moment people play a bizarre role in our elections.

How many people truly stand independent of the two parties? How many of these people are at least moderately politically active?