Democrats Regain Edge in Party Affiliation
In the second quarter of 2015, Democrats regained an advantage over Republicans in terms of Americans' party affiliation. A total of 46% of Americans identified as Democrats (30%) or said they are independents who lean toward the Democratic Party (16%), while 41% identified as Republicans (25%) or leaned Republican (16%). The two parties were generally even during the previous three quarters, including the fourth quarter of 2014, when the midterm elections took place.
Republicans have seemingly lost the momentum they had going into last fall's elections, which saw them make significant gains in congressional seats, including taking partisan control of the Senate. After those victories, Americans' overall opinions of the Democratic Party worsened while the public grew slightly more positive toward the GOP.
Republicans were able to maintain an even footing with Democrats through the first quarter of this year, but in the second quarter, the percentage of Democratic identifiers and leaners increased by three percentage points while the percentage of Republican identifiers and leaners decreased by three points. As a result, Democrats are now back to where they were in 2013 and early 2014.
The results are based on aggregated data from three Gallup surveys conducted in the second quarter. Gallup's Daily tracking survey also shows a five-point Democratic advantage in party affiliation during the second quarter.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/183887/democrats-regain-edge-party-affiliation.aspx?utm_source=Politics&utm_medium=newsfeed&utm_campaign=tiles
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