Political Party Identification

• Introduction
• Patterns
• Over Time
• Other Surveys

Political Party Identification (Demographic Patterns)

Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or what?

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Political Party Identification by Age (General Social Survey, 2006)

	18-30	31-44	45-64	65+	Missing	TOTAL
STR. DEM.	11.5% 98	13.2% 170	17.5% 279	19.8% 150	3	15.5% 697
DEMOCRAT	17.5% 149	14.7% 189	16.3% 260	18.0% 136	2	16.3% 734
LEAN DEM.	13.5% 115	12.0% 155	11.3% 180	10.0% 76	1	11.7% 526
INDEPEND.	28.7% 244	24.6% 317	20.6% 328	13.6% 103	5	22.1% 992
LEAN REP.	7.6% 65	7.9% 102	6.7% 107	7.0% 53	0	7.3% 327
REPUBLICAN	12.7% 108	14.7% 189	14.5% 231	14.1% 107	2	14.1% 635
STR. REP.	6.8% 58	11.1% 143	10.8% 173	15.7% 119	2	11.0% 493
OTHER	1.5% 13	1.4% 18	1.5% 24	1.2% 9	1	1.4% 64
NO ANSWER	0.0% 0	0.5% 6	0.9% 14	0.5% 4	2	0.5% 24
TOTAL	100% 850	100% 1289	100% 1596	100% 757	18	4492

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Political Party Identification by Race (General Social Survey, 2006)

	White	Black	Other	TOTAL
STR. DEM.	12.3% 403	37.2% 236	10.3% 61	15.5% 700
DEMOCRAT	13.9% 456	24.9% 158	20.6% 122	16.3% 736
LEAN DEM.	11.5% 377	12.5% 79	12.0% 71	11.7% 527
INDEPEND.	19.9% 652	17.2% 109	39.9% 236	22.1% 997
LEAN REP.	8.6% 283	2.2% 14	5.1% 30	7.3% 327
REPUBLICAN	17.6% 578	2.8% 18	6.9% 41	14.1% 637
STR. REP.	14.0% 459	1.9% 12	4.1% 24	11.0% 495
OTHER	1.8% 60	0.3% 2	0.5% 3	1.4% 65
NO ANSWER	0.5% 16	0.9% 6	0.7% 4	0.6% 26
TOTAL	100% 3284	100% 634	100% 592	4510

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Political Party Identification by Religion (General Social Survey, 2006)

	Protestant	Catholic	Jewish	None	Other	Missing	TOTAL
STR. DEM.	16.3% 379	12.9% 144	33.3% 26	15.4% 114	15.6% 35	2	15.6% 698
DEMOCRAT	15.9% 369	17.1% 191	25.6% 20	15.2% 112	18.7% 42	2	16.4% 734
LEAN DEM.	10.1% 234	10.9% 121	11.5% 9	16.8% 124	16.9% 38	1	11.7% 526
INDEPEND.	17.2% 401	26.7% 297	11.5% 9	30.3% 224	24.4% 55	11	22.0% 986
LEAN REP.	7.2% 168	8.0% 89	2.6% 2	7.2% 53	6.2% 14	1	7.3% 326
REPUBLICAN	16.7% 388	14.7% 164	6.4% 5	8.9% 66	5.8% 13	1	14.2% 636
STR. REP.	15.1% 352	8.3% 93	9.0% 7	3.0% 22	8.9% 20	1	11.0% 494
OTHER	1.2% 27	0.9% 10	0.0% 0	3.0% 22	2.7% 6	0	1.4% 65
NO ANSWER	0.4% 10	0.4% 5	0.0% 0	0.3% 2	0.9% 2	7	0.4% 19
TOTAL	100% 2328	100% 1114	100% 78	100% 739	100% 225	26	4484

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Political Party Identification by Gender (General Social Survey, 2006)

	MALE	FEMALE	TOTAL
STR. DEM.	13.3% 266	17.3% 434	15.5% 700
DEMOCRAT	14.2% 285	18.0% 451	16.3% 736
LEAN DEM.	12.9% 259	10.7% 268	11.7% 527
INDEPEND.	21.2% 425	22.8% 572	22.1% 997
LEAN REP.	8.7% 175	6.1% 152	7.3% 327
REPUBLICAN	15.4% 308	13.1% 329	14.1% 637
STR. REP.	11.5% 231	10.5% 264	11.0% 495
OTHER	2.1% 43	0.9% 22	1.4% 65
NO ANSWER	0.5% 11	0.6% 15	0.6% 26
TOTAL	100% 2003	100% 2507	4510

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Political Party Identification by Church attendance (General Social Survey, 2006)

	Never	Yearly	Monthly	Weekly	Missing	TOTAL
STR. DEM.	15.5% 158	14.3% 196	17.9% 123	15.7% 221	2	15.5% 698
DEMOCRAT	15.6% 159	17.7% 244	18.0% 124	14.8% 208	1	16.4% 735
LEAN DEM.	14.3% 146	14.0% 193	10.2% 70	8.4% 118	0	11.7% 527
INDEPEND.	30.0% 306	22.3% 307	23.3% 160	15.6% 220	4	22.1% 993
LEAN REP.	6.9% 70	7.7% 106	6.0% 41	7.7% 109	1	7.3% 326
REPUBLICAN	10.5% 107	13.6% 187	14.8% 102	17.0% 239	2	14.1% 635
STR. REP.	5.2% 53	8.3% 114	8.3% 57	19.2% 270	1	11.0% 494
OTHER	1.8% 18	1.7% 24	1.5% 10	0.9% 13	0	1.4% 65
NO ANSWER	0.3% 3	0.3% 4	0.1% 1	0.7% 10	8	0.4% 18
TOTAL	100% 1020	100% 1375	100% 688	100% 1408	19	4491

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Political Party Identification by Political ideology (General Social Survey, 2006)

	Liberal	Moderate	Conservative	Missing	TOTAL
STR. DEM.	30.7% 362	12.2% 206	8.3% 122	10	15.9% 690
DEMOCRAT	21.5% 254	18.8% 316	9.5% 140	26	16.4% 710
LEAN DEM.	18.4% 217	13.0% 219	5.6% 82	9	12.0% 518
INDEPEND.	16.6% 196	28.5% 480	14.4% 212	109	20.5% 888
LEAN REP.	3.1% 37	7.2% 122	11.4% 168	0	7.5% 327
REPUBLICAN	5.4% 64	14.6% 245	22.0% 323	5	14.6% 632
STR. REP.	2.5% 30	3.6% 60	27.1% 398	7	11.3% 488
OTHER	1.6% 19	1.6% 27	1.3% 19	0	1.5% 65
NO ANSWER	0.1% 1	0.5% 8	0.4% 6	11	0.3% 15
TOTAL	100% 1180	100% 1683	100% 1470	177	4333

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Political Party Identification by Education (General Social Survey, 2006)

	Not High School	High School	Jr. College	B.A.	Grad Degree	Missing	TOTAL
STR. DEM.	14.0% 97	15.3% 347	14.3% 54	14.4% 110	22.6% 91	1	15.5% 699
DEMOCRAT	16.6% 115	16.9% 384	13.8% 52	15.2% 116	17.1% 69	0	16.3% 736
LEAN DEM.	9.7% 67	11.7% 265	13.3% 50	11.4% 87	14.4% 58	0	11.7% 527
INDEPEND.	38.1% 263	22.1% 503	22.8% 86	12.1% 92	13.2% 53	0	22.1% 997
LEAN REP.	5.6% 39	7.4% 168	7.4% 28	7.9% 60	7.9% 32	0	7.3% 327
REPUBLICAN	8.1% 56	13.5% 307	17.0% 64	20.7% 158	12.9% 52	0	14.1% 637
STR. REP.	5.8% 40	11.3% 256	9.8% 37	15.5% 118	10.9% 44	0	11.0% 495
OTHER	1.3% 9	1.4% 32	0.8% 3	2.4% 18	0.7% 3	0	1.4% 65
NO ANSWER	0.7% 5	0.5% 11	0.8% 3	0.5% 4	0.2% 1	2	0.5% 24
TOTAL	100% 691	100% 2273	100% 377	100% 763	100% 403	3	4507

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Notes

General Social Survey, 2006: The General Social Surveys (GSS) have been conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) annually since 1972 except for the years 1979, 1981, and 1992 (a supplement was added in 1992), and biennially beginning in 1994. The GSS are designed as part of a program of social indicator research, replicating questionnaire items and wording in order to facilitate time-trend studies. The 2006 GSS includes a topical module for mental health. Items in the 2006 GSS include questions on religious self-identification, denominational affiliation, personal beliefs, and religious upbringing.