Why affiliate with a political party

The overall balance of partisan orientation among Hispanics is little changed over the last decade. Note: Only English-speaking Asian American voters are included in the data.

While this is little changed in the last few years, it represents the continuation of a longer trend in declining Republican affiliation among Asian voters. Among Asians, identification with the Democratic Party has remained relatively stable over this period. The share of Asian voters who say they are political independents has risen steadily since , reflecting a more general trend among all voters.

Higher educational attainment is increasingly associated with Democratic Party affiliation and leaning. At the same time, those without college experience — once a group that tilted more Democratic than Republican — are roughly divided in their partisan orientation.

These twin shifts have resulted in the widest educational gap in partisan identification and leaning seen at any point in more than two decades of Pew Research Center surveys. In , those figures were exactly reversed. Democratic gains have been even more pronounced among those who pursue postgraduate education. In , those with at least some postgraduate experience were evenly split between the Democratic and Republican parties. Today, the Democratic Party enjoys a roughly two-to-one advantage in leaned partisan identification.

These overall patterns in education and partisanship are particularly pronounced among white voters. While the GOP has held significant advantages over the Democratic Party among white college graduates without postgraduate experience over much of the past two decades, these voters are divided in their partisanship today. And among voters with postgraduate experience, the Democratic advantage has grown. By contrast, white voters with no more than a high school education have moved more to the GOP over the last 10 years, though there has been little change since As recently as , these voters were divided in leaned partisanship.

The generational gap in partisanship is now more pronounced than in the past, and this echoes the widening generational gaps seen in many political values and preferences.

Millennial voters born to have had a Democratic tilt since they first entered adulthood; this advantage has only grown as they have aged. The balance of leaned partisan identification among Gen X voters has been relatively consistent over the past several years. The Silent Generation born to is the only generational group that has more GOP leaners and identifying voters than Democratic-oriented voters. While there is a gender gap in partisan affiliation within every generational cohort, it is particularly pronounced among Millennial voters.

This wide gender gap among Millennial voters is largely attributable to a marked shift among Millennial women. As recently as , the Democratic advantage among Millennial women was a narrower — but still substantial — 21 percentage points, compared with 47 points today.

Gender gaps in other generations are more modest. As the presidential election grows closer, we will update this report on trends in partisan affiliation among registered voters.

Race and ethnicity. Across all educational categories, women are more likely than men to affiliate with the Democratic Party or lean Democratic. There are only slight differences in partisan affiliation between older and younger millennials.

Republicans lead in leaned party identification by 48 points among Mormons and 46 points among white evangelical Protestants. Younger white evangelicals those under age 35 are about as likely older white evangelicals to identify as Republicans or lean Republican. Adults who have no religious affiliation lean Democratic by a wide margins 36 points.

The balance of leaned partisan affiliation among white Catholics and white mainline Protestants closely resembles that of all whites. Since then, the percentage of independents has increased nine points while Republican affiliation has fallen six points.

Most of those who identify as independents lean toward a party. And in many respects, partisan leaners have attitudes that are similar to those of partisans — they just prefer not to identify with a party. Democrats have led in leaned party identification among the public for most of the past two decades.

Among both men and women, increasing percentages describe themselves as independents. Since , women have been consistently more likely than men to identify as Democrats or lean Democratic. Party identification among Asian Americans has shown little change in recent years. This data is based on interviews conducted in English. See Checking Your Registration for details.

A voter may choose one political party or can decide not to register with a political party. If a voter does not register with a political party, the voter will be registered as unaffiliated. For example, a registered Republican may only vote in the Republican Party primary.