Party affiliation gallup
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That leaves less room for across-the-aisle negotiation on key issues between the two parties in federal and state government. Democrats’ liberal identification has more than doubled over the past 30 years.
From 1994 to 2006, pluralities of more than four in 10 Democrats described themselves as moderate, with liberal identification ranging from 25% to 35%.
For most of this time, the Democratic Party has held at least a slight edge in combined party identification and leaning, including from 1992 through 2001, 2004 through 2010, and 2012 through 2021.
The Democratic advantage was largest in 2008, at 12 percentage points, but shrank to zero by 2011 before settling into the two-to-six-point range for the next decade.
In the past three years, which were marked by low satisfaction with the way things were going in the United States, negative evaluations of the U.S.
economy and low job approval ratings for Democratic President Joe Biden, Republicans have held slight advantages of one to two points. Political Parties Historically Polarized Ideologically
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans’ ideological identification was steady in 2024, with an average of 37% describing their political views as “very conservative” or “conservative,” 34% as “moderate,” and 25% as “very liberal” or “liberal.” However, this stability masks new highs in the percentages of Republicans identifying as conservative and Democrats as liberal.
Americans’ Ideological Identification Was Steady in 2024
None of the three main ideological groupings of Americans -- conservatives, moderates and liberals -- has had majority-level status since Gallup began tracking ideology with this measure in 1992.
Between 2007 and 2011, Democrats were equally likely to identify as liberal or moderate. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Gallup’s July survey, the first of the third quarter, shows the Democratic advantage similar to what it was in the second quarter, suggesting their lead in party affiliation is holding for now.
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Survey Methods
Results for this Gallup poll are based on combined telephone interviews conducted by ReconMR in 2024 and 2025, with random samples of no less than 3,000 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S.
states and the District of Columbia, per quarter. For results based on these combined samples of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The incumbent presidents subsequently saw their party lose one (2010, 2018 and 2022) or both (1994) houses of Congress in the first midterm election of their presidency.
Those midterm losses were preceded by shifts in party affiliation away from the ruling party during the president’s first year in office.
Just 27% of independents rate the Democratic Party favorably, essentially tying the low of 25% from November 2014.
The GOP fares no better among independents, with a 28% favorable rating in the current survey, which is down from 42% just before the 2024 election and 37% immediately after it.
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Democratic Party Not Seen as More Capable Than GOP
Recent gains in Democratic Party affiliation do not appear to be influenced by perceptions that Democrats are more capable than Republicans of governing the country.
The prior low was 36% in November 2014, after the party lost its majority in the U.S. Senate in that year’s midterm election, which gave the Republican Party control of both houses of Congress at the time.
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Americans’ favorable rating of the Republican Party is slightly better, but still quite negative, at 38%. But in the past three years, under an unpopular Biden administration, Republican identification and leaning has exceeded that of Democrats.
Those clear lines of political accountability made the ruling party vulnerable in the first midterm election if Americans were unhappy with the president’s performance. All first-term presidents since 1994, with the exception of George W. Bush in 2002 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, had job approval ratings below 50% at the time of the midterm election.
The GOP’s current favorable rating is down from 44% in November after last year’s elections gave the party full control of the federal government.
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The Democratic Party’s image woes partly stem from Democratic identifiers’ historically low favorable rating of their own party.
Until now, the Republican Party had led or tied in most quarters since 2023.
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These findings are based on quarterly averages of Gallup poll data, consisting of interviews with no fewer than 3,000 U.S. adults in each quarter.
The net three-point increase in Democratic affiliation between Q4 2024 and Q2 2025, from 43% to 46%, is entirely due to more Americans saying they are independents who lean toward the Democratic Party (up four points), not because more are identifying as Democrats outright (down one point).
Meanwhile, Republicans’ four-point decline over the same period is due to equal two-point declines in the percentages of people identifying as and leaning Republican.
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As such, most of the movement in party affiliation in the past three quarters has occurred among U.S.
adults with weaker party attachments — leaning independents — than among core party identifiers.
Democratic Party Image at Record Low
Democratic gains in party affiliation have occurred despite the party’s poor public image.
In fact, in 2009, 2017 and 2021, all of the movement occurred among political independents.
Bottom Line
Consistent with the common pattern of the out-party making gains at the start of a new presidency, Democratic Party affiliation has increased since Trump was elected, and now Democrats hold an edge. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
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GOP Holds Edge in Party Affiliation for Third Straight Year
WASHINGTON, D.C.
-- Americans’ political party preferences remained closely divided in 2024, with the Republican Party having a slight edge for the third consecutive year. Slightly more Americans say the Republican Party (42%) rather than the Democratic Party (37%) can bring about changes the country needs.
Conversely, Democrats are viewed better than Republicans in two areas largely tied to party ethics, though the Democratic Party’s scores are not particularly strong.
There have been slightly larger-than-average increases in Republican identification and leaning among Hispanic Americans (from 27% to 36%), young adults (33% to 39%), lower-income Americans (36% to 41%), those without a college degree (45% to 50%), Catholics (42% to 47%) and Black Americans (12% to 17%).
Among the subgroups showing little to no increase in Republican Party affiliation since 2021 are college graduates (from 41% to 42%), adults aged 65 and older (49% to 48%), non-Hispanic White people (53% to 54%), married people (51% to 52%), upper-income (47% to 48%) and middle-income Americans (46% to 47%), political liberals (9% to 10%), and nonreligious Americans (25% to 26%).
Independent Identification Holds at Record-High 43%
When initially asked for their political party identification in 2024, Americans were most likely to identify as independents (43%), with 28% saying they were Democrats and 28% Republicans.