The Republican Party maintained its edge over the Democrats in 2024, with more Americans identifying with the GOP than with its rival political party, according to a new poll.
The Gallup survey, published Thursday, shows 46 percent of respondents either consider themselves a Republican or a Republican-leaning independent, while 45 percent say they consider themselves a Democrat or a Democratic-leaning independent.
The latest survey marks the third consecutive year in which the GOP edged out the Democrats.
In 2023, 45 percent of respondents identified as Republican or Republican-leaning, and 43 percent identified as Democrat or Democratic-leaning. In 2022, 45 percent identified with the GOP, while 44 percent identified with the Democrats, the data shows.
Before 2022, Republicans last held a plurality support in 1991 — the first year Gallup conducted the survey — when 48 percent of Americans identified with the GOP and 44 percent identified with the Democrats.
Since then, the Democrats have either tied or been more popular than the GOP among U.S. voters. The Democrats’ largest advantage in the last 33 years came in 2008 — the year former President Obama was elected — when 52 percent of Americans identified with the Democrats and 40 percent identified with Republicans, according to the pollster.
The mood of the country has also shifted in the last three or so decades but the smallest margin — with no points separating the two parties — came in 2002, 2003 and 2011, when 45 percent of respondents identified with each party.
The Gallup survey was conducted throughout 2024 and included telephone interviews with 14,162 U.S. adults. The margin of error is 1 percentage point.
