Party Affiliation Fact Sheet Npors Pew Research Center

Pew Research Center’s annual National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) has measured partisan affiliation among U.S. adults since 2020. Explore recent patterns of partisan affiliation in the American public and among several key demographic groups below. This fact sheet shows trends in partisan identification among U.S. adults using data from Pew Research Center’s National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS). The most recent NPORS was conducted from Feb.

5 to June 18, 2025, among 5,022 U.S. adults. We field NPORS to produce benchmark estimates for several topics, including Americans’ political and religious affiliations. The accompanying NPORS fact sheet provides additional detail about its methodology, including the questionnaires and links to the datasets. We also periodically publish reports that analyze partisan affiliation trends in more depth (including longer-term trends and additional subgroup analysis), based on data from Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel and historical trends from... The most recent of these reports – focused on partisanship among registered voters – was published in spring 2024.

Today, Americans are about evenly split between the two parties: 46% identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, and 45% identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party. This balance of partisanship is similar to 2024, but the current near-even division marks a shift from the affiliation advantage the Democratic Party enjoyed a few years ago. Party affiliations among registered voters in the United States reveal a closely divided electorate, with significant numbers identifying as independents or unaffiliated. The most recent data—drawn from state election offices, the U.S. Census Bureau, and leading research organizations—highlights both the partisan split and the growing share of voters outside the two major parties. As of September 2024, there are approximately 186.5 million registered voters in the United States, according to USAFacts and the U.S.

Census Bureau. This figure represents about 74% of the citizen voting-age population. However, not all states collect or report party affiliation data, so national party registration totals are based on states that do. Among states that report party affiliation, the breakdown is as follows: According to Gallup and Pew Research Center, the share of Americans identifying as independents is at or near record highs, with 43% of adults describing themselves as independent in 2024. Party registration varies widely by state.

For example, California has the largest number of registered Democrats (over 10 million), while Wyoming has the highest percentage of registered Republicans (over 80%). Massachusetts and Colorado have some of the highest shares of independent or unaffiliated voters, at over 60% and nearly 48%, respectively. We recently updated our National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) fact sheet with new 2023 data. We use NPORS to produce benchmark estimates for several topics, including Americans’ political party affiliation, religious affiliation and frequency of internet use. The NPORS dataset is free to download and use. #National #Public #Opinion #Reference #Survey (#NPORS) #PewResearchCenter #UpdatedFactSheetIncluding2023 #October3

Dec 3, 2025 | Health, Politics, Top Stories A Boston judge has dealt a setback to President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ruling that its bid to end Medicaid funding for … Failed Democratic Tennessee congressional candidate Aftyn Behn conceded the election Tuesday night but didn’t end the race quietly, phoning Republican Tennessee Rep-elect Matt Van Epps … Dec 3, 2025 | Featured, Politics, Top Stories Court-sealed subpoenas targeting congressional Republicans raise constitutional concerns and questions over whether the Justice Department monitored its own investigators. The⁤ question‍ of how to accurately‍ represent political party affiliation in surveys, especially when⁤ it’s understood as a dynamic attitude rather than a‌ fixed characteristic, is ⁣a complex one.

Pew Research Center has developed a ⁣elegant methodology to address this‌ challenge, ensuring more ​robust and representative survey data. It’s a ‍valid observation that an individual’s ⁤declared political‍ party‍ affiliation is an attitude, subject to change​ over time, unlike immutable characteristics such as a birth year.However, this doesn’t preclude the practice of weighting... Pew Research Center’s⁤ approach, implemented since 2021, allows for effective weighting without artificially ⁣forcing the partisan distribution of‍ a poll to match a‍ predetermined benchmark. Pew Research Center’s innovative ​strategy hinges on the synchronized timing of two key components: the National Public ⁤Opinion Reference Survey​ (NPORS) and the American‌ trends Panel (ATP). The NPORS is designed to measure political party affiliation at a specific‌ point in time, ‌and crucially, its timing is ‌controlled by Pew. This control allows for a precise alignment with the timing of the ​ATP surveys.

The process‌ begins by capturing the political party affiliation of ATP panelists at a ⁤particular moment, ideally coinciding with the NPORS ⁤measurement. Over the course of a⁣ year, Pew might ‌conduct‍ approximately 22​ surveys on the ATP. For ⁣each of these ‌surveys, the party affiliation data⁣ collected earlier,⁤ at the time of the NPORS measurement, is appended to the current survey data. To illustrate,consider a⁤ survey conducted in december. When researchers weight this December ATP survey, ​they​ utilize the party affiliation measurements taken in the preceding spring, ⁤weighting them against‌ the NPORS estimates for⁤ the partisan distribution of U.S. adults during that⁤ spring timeframe.

This ⁣method is particularly effective in mitigating‍ differential ⁣partisan nonresponse bias. ⁢For instance, ⁤if Democrats were more inclined to respond‌ to the December survey than Republicans, this weighting process helps ⁢to⁤ correct for ⁣that imbalance. NPORS is an annual survey of U.S. adults conducted by Pew Research Center. Respondents may answer by paper, online or over the phone. They are selected using address-based sampling from the U.S.

Postal Service’s Computerized Delivery Sequence File. Respondents are not required to join a survey panel. Pew Research Center uses NPORS to produce benchmark estimates for several topics, such as Americans’ political and religious affiliations. Read a detailed description of how the survey is conducted, as well as more information about how the Center uses NPORS. NPORS estimates, which are based on paper, online and telephone survey responses, may differ somewhat from historical Pew Research Center polling data. There are several reasons why differences may arise.

The Center has released analyses of how survey mode can influence estimates of political opinions and religious attitudes and behaviors. The latest NPORS estimates are shown below. The Center also provides a companion fact sheet on trends in political party affiliation. The latest NPORS estimates are shown below. The Center also provides in-depth analysis of trends in religious affiliation as well as analysis of the size and attitudes of many religious faiths in the U.S. The latest NPORS estimates are shown below.

The Center also provides trend data on social media, mobile phone use and internet/broadband. The National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) is an annual survey of U.S. adults conducted by Pew Research Center. Respondents may answer by paper, online or over the phone. Pew Research Center uses NPORS to produce benchmark estimates for several topics, such as Americans’ political and religious affiliations. Read a detailed description of how the survey is conducted, as well as more information about how the Center uses NPORS.

SSRS conducted the National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) for Pew Research Center using address-based sampling and a multimode protocol.

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