No, I'm registered as no party because I'm more progressive than Democrats but do follow politics and vote. I think almost 1/3 of my state don't belong to a political party.

Apolitical people probably don't even register to vote.

Identifying as "apolitical" is a choice to ignore politics, which typically means the person is privledged and benefits from the status quo (but not always). Being "independent" can mean different things, from organizing with a non-dominant party to having a weird, ill-defined set of beliefs not covered by any party.

independent just means you don't belong to or identify with a political party. if people classify themselves this way, they are definately not apolitical.

apolitical people don't care about politics. just like asexual people don't care about sex.

No, not in the US at least.

Independent means you have not registered as a voter for a particular political party and tend not to vote for the same party election after election.

Apolitical means completely disengaged, and probably doesn't vote at all.

No.

Apolitical means you don't care about politics or you don't really hold enough interest to discuss it at any degree.

Independent in politics means, you're going your own way about how you take in the issues and causes around you than the two parties.

No. Independent means you're not sure which side of the table you're going to sit on today, while apolitical means you aren't at the table at all (and thus you are on the menu, as the saying goes).

No. Being independent means you aren't part of one of the main parties, but are still involved in politics.

Being apolitical means you don't want to discuss it be involved in politics.

As others are saying it's definitely NOT the same thing, but that doesn't mean that apolitical people aren't incorrectly calling themselves Independents.

Lot of good information, but I have a clarification. Independent actually means you're a Republican in hiding.