I’ve been an independent for years after having registered first as a Republican (I was a Bob Dole fan for a while) and later as a Democrat, because I have issues with both parties (albeit not equivalent ones - to paraphrase the late PJ O’Rourke, the Dems are at least wrong within normal human parameters). Rejecting the GOP doesn’t require a default jump to the Democrats.
I mean, at present I tend to vote pretty much straight Democratic because as little as I think of some of their candidates, the current GOP crop is so, so much worse. But that’s a “vote for the least bad option” approach, really.