Since 1988, the share of adults in the U.S. who identify as political independents has continued to grow, often surpassing the that of Democrats or Republicans. In 2024, approximately ** percent of adults rejected identification with the major parties, compared to ** percent of respondents identified with the Democratic Party, and ** percent with the Republican Party.

In the last few decades, the Democratic Party has often pulled ahead of the Republican Party in terms of party identification. However, 2022 saw a shift in party identification, with slightly more Americans identifying with the Republican Party for the first time since 2011, when both parties stood at ** percent in 2011. These values include not only those surveyed who identified with a major political party, but also those who identified as independent, but have leanings towards one party over another.

According to a 2023 survey, Americans between 18 and 29 years of age were more likely to identify with the Democratic Party than any other surveyed age group. While 39 percent identified as Democrats, only 14 percent identified ad Republicans. However, those 50 and older identified more with the Republican Party.

According to a survey conducted in 2023, Gen Z teens were more likely than other generations to identify as independents in the United States, at ** percent. A further ** percent of Gen Z teens identified as Democratic, while ** percent identified as Republicans.

The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the country's legislative body. It is made up of 100 Senators, two from each state. Senators serve six-year terms, but elections are staggered. In any given election year, one third of the Senate will be up for reelection. The 119th Congress was sworn-in in January 2025 with a Republican majority.

The United States has had 46 presidents since George Washington's election in 1789. While Washington himself was not affiliated with any political party, and even argued against partisanship (something that the other Founding Fathers agreed with), political differences and personal rivalries between the Founding Fathers eventually led to the founding of the Federalist Party, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Thomas Jefferson. Washington's successor, John Adams, was the only Federalist president, before the Democratic-Republicans occupied the White House from 1801 until 1829.

Formation of the Democratic and Republican parties

The 1820s again saw political and personal rivalries lead to a split among the country's leadership, and the Democratic-Republican Party made way for the formation of the Democratic Party and the National Republican Party. The Democratic Party was formed by Andrew Jackson and his supporters, and was traditionally the more conservative of the major political parties in the U.S. until the mid-twentieth century. The National Republican Party was short lived, and eventually amalgamated with the Whig Party in the 1830s, who would go on to be the main opposition to the Democratic Party for the subsequent two decades. Four U.S. presidents belonged to the Whig Party, although it may be important to note that these four men only served a combined eight years in office, as two of them died a short while into their tenure. The issue of slavery was the most dominant and divisive issue in U.S. politics in the mid-nineteenth century, and regional splits emerged in both parties; the rifts did not break apart the Democratic Party, who favored state sovereignty on the issue, whereas the divide in the Whig Party saw it splinter into the right-wing Know Nothing Party in the south, and anti-slavery Republican Party in the north. The 1856 election was the first to feature candidates of both the Democratic and Republican Parties, marking the beginning of the major political rivalry that has dominated U.S. politics for the past 160 years.

Realignment

Abraham Lincoln became the U.S.' first Republican president with his victory in the 1860 election. From then until 1933, twelve of the U.S.' 16 presidents belonged to the Republican Party, while just four* were from the Democratic Party. Due to the legacy left by the American Civil War, the southern, former-Confederate states were a political stronghold for the Democratic Party, and rarely voted for Republican candidates in presidential elections; in contrast to this, the north, west and newly-admitted states tended to vote Republican. In the 1910s, the Republican Party transitioned into the more ideologically conservative option of the two major parties, and more fiscally conservative following the Great Depression; however, it was not until the Johnson administration in the 1960s, particularly due to matters regarding African-American civil rights, where the core voter bases switched into what is typically expected today. In the past century, there have been ten Republican and nine Democratic presidents (including Joe Biden), with Democrats occupying the White House for roughly 52 of these years. Republican voters in the twenty-first century are generally more conservative and right-leaning in regards to both economic and social issues, whereas Democratic voters tend to be the opposite. There are also strong correlations between political parties and their voters, based on issues such as location, ethnicity, wealth, education and age.

According to a 2023 survey of U.S. adults, non-Hispanic white adults were much more likely to identify as Republican or Republican-leaning than non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic adults.

These values include not only those surveyed who identified with a major political party, but also those who identified as independent, but have leanings towards one party over another.

The United States House of Representatives has 435 members. The number of seats allocated to each state is determined by a state's population. The 119th Congress was sworn-in in January 2025, with the Republicans holding a majority with 220 seats. In this year, the Republican Party was in control of the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Presidency.

In 2018, Massachusetts was the state that leaned most toward the Democratic Party, with ** percent of people surveyed throughout the year stating they either identify with or lean towards the Democrats. On the other end of the political spectrum, ** percent of respondents in Wyoming preferred the Republican Party.

Over the last two years, the number of states either identifying with or leaning towards the Democratic Party has been growing, increasing from 14 in 2016 to 22 in 2018. Corresponding to this has been a decline in both: support for the Republicans, which fell from 21 to 18; and the number of states that can be considered competitive, which fell from 15 to 10.

In 2019, there were 27 Republican governors and 23 Democratic governors in office. The number of both Republican and Democratic governors has been fluctuating since 1990, with Democratic governors seeing a surge from 2018 to 2019.

Opinions of governors

The top 10 most popular governorsas of December 2019, were all Republicans, while six out of the top 10 least popular governors were Democrats, which includes New York governor Andrew Cuomo. However, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuomo received favorable opinions from both political parties in his state. Across all states, governors have received overall positive opinions from residents about their responses to the George Floyd protests, while members of Congress and the President have received negative reactions.

Women in politics

Women have been consistently underrepresented in politics since the creation of the United States, women were not allowed to vote until the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, and all women did not get the right to vote until 1965 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act. However, the number of women in politics has been increasing since then. Arizona has had the most female governors, but states like California, Florida, and New York have yet to see a female governor. In Congress, the Democratic Party that had three times the number of female nominees for congressional and gubernatorial positions compared to the Republican Party.

According to a survey from March 2023 among U.S. Taylor Swift fans, also called 'Swifties', the largest share of Swift fans were in support of the Democratic party, namely ** percent. In comparison, only ** percent stated that they were in support of the Republican party. While Swift has stayed apolitical for the majority of her career, in recent years she has come out in support of the Democratic party, speaking out against former president Trump before the 2018 U.S. congress elections.

This statistic shows the distribution of political party affiliations among religious groups in the United States, in 2016, by faith tradition. In 2016, about 44 percent of Mormon in the United States affiliated themselves with the Republican Party.

Following a tumultuous year of social protests and the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Presidential Elections in the United States were more significant than ever. With such a wide platform and vast fan base, many athletes spoke out in favor of specific candidates or political parties. During an October 2020 survey in the United States, ** percent of Democrat respondents strongly agreed with the sentiment that athletes should be free to publicly express support for political parties.

A survey held in February 2022 examining trust in the accuracy of news and information from various sources revealed that Republicans in general are less trusting of the news media than Americans affiliated with other political parties, with 46 percent reporting a lot or some trust in network news as opposed to 77 percent of Democrats. Social media was the least trusted news source among all respondents, whereas attitudes towards newspapers and radio were the most favorable.

The 119th Congress began in January 2025. In this Congress Republicans have majority control of the chamber, holding 53 seats with the two independent Senators from Maine and Vermont joining their legislative caucus.

In the United States in 2023, ** percent of Republicans reported that they owned at least one gun, and ** percent said that they lived in a household with a gun. In comparison, only ** percent of Democrats owned at least one gun, and ** percent lived in a gun household. Who are gun owners? In 2022, significantly more Democrats were in favor of limiting gun ownership in comparison to Republicans. On the other hand, more Republicans were in favor of protecting the right to own guns in comparison to Democrats. When examined by education level, respondents who said they only had some college, but no degree were the most likely to have said that there is at least one gun in their household. However, nearly a ******* of Americans over 18 years old said that they rarely carry a gun on their person. Republicans vs Democrats Debate The gun control debate in the United States has been a highly contested one. In light of frequent mass shootings, gun control laws have become the center of policy discussions. Democratic politicians tend to put significant emphasis on their gun control policies and are overall more in favor of stricter gun control laws and want more background checks for those who want to purchase a gun. However, Republicans tend to work in favor of gun rights.

In 2023, Protestant members of Congress were dominant across both political parties. However, the share was higher int he Republican Party. ** percent of Republican Congress members identified as Protestant, compared to **** percent of Democrats. Democrats had a much higher proportion of Jewish members.

In 2022, Democrats were by far the most likely group in the U.S. to consider the news media to be favorable, with 45 percent of respondents to a survey held that year having a positive opinion of the news, compared to only eight percent of Republicans.

From 2010 to 2023, Democrats were found much more likely than Republicans to identify with no religion in the United States. In 2023, ** percent of Democrats said that they identified with no religion compared to ** percent of Republicans.