Political party identification

Political party identification (Demographic Patterns)

Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or what?. Results weighted by WTCOMB (General Social Survey 2008 Cross-Section and Panel Combined)

Political party identification by Age

	18-29 years old	30-44 years old	45-59 years old	60-74 years old	75 years and old	Missing	TOTAL
Strong Democrat	15.1% 112	16.6% 159	17.9% 181	20.4% 117	26.7% 67	5	18.0% 636
Not strong Democrat	23.2% 172	18.7% 179	17.4% 176	13.6% 78	13.1% 33	6	18.1% 638
Independent, near Democrat	14.9% 110	10.3% 99	11.6% 117	10.5% 60	10.4% 26	2	11.7% 412
Independent	18.4% 136	17.7% 169	13.1% 133	12.7% 73	10.8% 27	5	15.2% 538
Independent, near Republican	6.2% 46	8.3% 79	9.9% 100	10.8% 62	8.4% 21	0	8.7% 308
Not strong Republican	12.2% 90	16.6% 159	15.4% 156	15.2% 87	13.5% 34	4	14.9% 526
Strong Republican	7.6% 56	9.6% 92	12.4% 125	14.7% 84	15.1% 38	0	11.2% 395
Other party	2.4% 18	1.6% 15	1.6% 16	1.7% 10	0.4% 1	3	1.7% 60
No answer	0.0% 0	0.6% 6	0.8% 8	0.3% 2	1.6% 4	0	0.6% 20
TOTAL	100.0% 740	100.0% 957	100.0% 1012	100.0% 573	100.0% 251	25	3533

Political party identification by Sex

	Male	Female	TOTAL
Strong Democrat	16.3% 263	19.4% 377	18.0% 640
Not strong Democrat	17.0% 275	19.0% 370	18.1% 645
Independent, near Democrat	13.1% 212	10.5% 204	11.7% 416
Independent	14.3% 231	16.1% 312	15.3% 543
Independent, near Republican	10.6% 172	7.1% 137	8.7% 309
Not strong Republican	14.5% 235	15.2% 295	14.9% 530
Strong Republican	11.4% 184	10.9% 211	11.1% 395
Other party	2.5% 41	1.1% 21	1.7% 62
No answer	0.2% 4	0.8% 16	0.6% 20
TOTAL	100.0% 1617	100.0% 1943	3560

Political party identification by Region

	Northeast	Midwest	South	West	TOTAL
Strong Democrat	20.7% 125	19.6% 149	17.9% 234	14.9% 132	18.0% 640
Not strong Democrat	19.3% 117	15.8% 120	16.4% 215	21.8% 193	18.1% 645
Independent, near Democrat	13.6% 82	12.0% 91	9.9% 129	12.7% 113	11.7% 415
Independent	16.0% 97	15.8% 120	15.5% 202	14.0% 124	15.3% 543
Independent, near Republican	7.9% 48	8.3% 63	8.4% 110	10.0% 89	8.7% 310
Not strong Republican	11.1% 67	15.2% 116	17.1% 223	14.0% 124	14.9% 530
Strong Republican	8.3% 50	11.8% 90	13.2% 172	9.4% 83	11.1% 395
Other party	2.0% 12	1.3% 10	1.5% 20	2.4% 21	1.8% 63
No answer	1.2% 7	0.3% 2	0.2% 2	0.9% 8	0.5% 19
TOTAL	100.0% 605	100.0% 761	100.0% 1307	100.0% 887	3560

Political party identification by Political ideology

	Liberal	Moderate	Conservative	Missing	TOTAL
Strong Democrat	33.1% 308	15.8% 208	9.3% 110	14	18.2% 626
Not strong Democrat	26.0% 242	21.6% 285	8.8% 104	14	18.4% 631
Independent, near Democrat	18.0% 168	13.5% 178	4.5% 54	16	11.6% 400
Independent	10.1% 94	20.0% 264	10.8% 128	58	14.1% 486
Independent, near Republican	3.4% 32	9.6% 127	12.4% 147	4	8.9% 306
Not strong Republican	4.6% 43	13.4% 177	25.5% 303	6	15.2% 523
Strong Republican	2.5% 23	4.5% 59	26.3% 312	1	11.5% 394
Other party	2.3% 21	0.9% 12	2.1% 25	4	1.7% 58
No answer	0.0% 0	0.5% 7	0.3% 4	9	0.3% 11
TOTAL	100.0% 931	100.0% 1317	100.0% 1187	126	3435

Political party identification by Religion

	Protestant	Catholic	Jewish	None	Other	Missing	TOTAL
Strong Democrat	18.6% 327	16.1% 146	38.1% 24	17.9% 104	14.3% 34	4	17.9% 635
Not strong Democrat	15.0% 264	22.4% 203	28.6% 18	18.2% 106	22.7% 54	1	18.2% 645
Independent, near Democrat	8.7% 153	12.8% 116	9.5% 6	18.2% 106	13.9% 33	2	11.7% 414
Independent	12.5% 219	14.9% 135	4.8% 3	23.4% 136	19.7% 47	2	15.2% 540
Independent, near Republican	8.8% 154	8.9% 81	4.8% 3	8.6% 50	8.4% 20	0	8.7% 308
Not strong Republican	18.8% 330	13.9% 126	6.3% 4	7.2% 42	10.9% 26	2	14.9% 528
Strong Republican	15.7% 276	9.2% 83	7.9% 5	3.6% 21	3.8% 9	1	11.1% 394
Other party	1.5% 26	1.1% 10	0.0% 0	2.8% 16	4.2% 10	0	1.7% 62
No answer	0.3% 6	0.7% 6	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	2.1% 5	2	0.5% 17
TOTAL	100.0% 1755	100.0% 906	100.0% 63	100.0% 581	100.0% 238	14	3543

Political party identification by Race

	White	Black	Other	TOTAL
Strong Democrat	13.5% 373	46.7% 209	17.4% 59	18.0% 641
Not strong Democrat	15.4% 426	25.2% 113	31.0% 105	18.1% 644
Independent, near Democrat	11.5% 320	9.6% 43	15.6% 53	11.7% 416
Independent	15.7% 435	10.5% 47	18.0% 61	15.3% 543
Independent, near Republican	10.2% 282	2.7% 12	4.1% 14	8.7% 308
Not strong Republican	18.1% 501	1.3% 6	6.8% 23	14.9% 530
Strong Republican	13.3% 369	2.2% 10	4.7% 16	11.1% 395
Other party	2.1% 58	0.9% 4	0.3% 1	1.8% 63
No answer	0.3% 9	0.9% 4	2.1% 7	0.6% 20
TOTAL	100.0% 2773	100.0% 448	100.0% 339	3560

Political party identification by Education

	Left high school	High school	Junior college	Bachelor	Graduate	Missing	TOTAL
Strong Democrat	19.1% 93	16.2% 290	19.1% 57	15.7% 101	28.5% 98	0	18.0% 639
Not strong Democrat	16.2% 79	20.2% 360	17.1% 51	15.6% 100	16.0% 55	0	18.1% 645
Independent, near Democrat	10.3% 50	12.5% 223	10.7% 32	11.4% 73	10.8% 37	0	11.7% 415
Independent	30.2% 147	14.8% 264	14.8% 44	7.6% 49	11.3% 39	1	15.3% 543
Independent, near Republican	7.2% 35	8.2% 147	9.4% 28	11.7% 75	6.7% 23	0	8.7% 308
Not strong Republican	8.4% 41	14.1% 252	17.4% 52	21.0% 135	14.5% 50	0	14.9% 530
Strong Republican	7.8% 38	11.5% 206	8.7% 26	13.7% 88	10.5% 36	1	11.1% 394
Other party	0.2% 1	1.6% 29	2.7% 8	3.1% 20	1.5% 5	0	1.8% 63
No answer	0.6% 3	0.8% 14	0.0% 0	0.3% 2	0.3% 1	0	0.6% 20
TOTAL	100.0% 487	100.0% 1785	100.0% 298	100.0% 643	100.0% 344	2	3557

Notes

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 to be part of a program of social indicator research, replicating questionnaire items and wording in order to facilitate time-trend studies. The 2008 GSS featured special modules on attitudes toward science and technology, self-employment, terrorism preparation, global economics, sports and leisure, social inequality, sexual behaviors and religion. Items on religion covered denominational affiliation, church attendance, religious upbringing, personal beliefs, and religious experiences.

The GSS is in transition from a replicating cross-sectional design to a design that uses rotating panels. In 2008 there were two components: a new 2008 cross-section with 2,023 cases and the first re-interviews (panel) with 1,536 respondents from the 2006 GSS. The 2,023 cases in the cross-section have been previously released as a part of the 1972-2008 cumulative data. This new release includes those 1,536 re-interviewed panel cases along with the 2,023 cases. Please note that this is not a cumulative file - those cases and variables not surveyed in 2008 are excluded. Also note that, although those 1,536 cases were from the 2006 sample, this release does not include their responses in 2006. We plan to release a data file with the previous responses in the future. This release introduces new variables that were asked only of the panel cases of the 2008 GSS. The majority of variables introduced are related to the 2007 International Social Survey Program (ISSP) module on leisure time and sports.