Democratic Party's Image More Positive Than GOP’s

PRINCETON, NJ -- According to the latest USA Today/Gallup poll, Americans are much more positive in their assessments of the Democratic Party than of the Republican Party -- consistent with a trend Gallup has measured since April 2006. Over the past several months, the public's ratings of the Republican Party have grown slightly more positive. The vast majority of Republicans and Democrats rate their respective parties favorably, while independents have a more positive than negative view of the Democratic Party, and a more negative than positive view of the Republican Party.

Party Ratings

The Nov. 2-4, 2007, poll finds 54% of Americans saying they have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, while 37% have an unfavorable opinion. Ratings of the Republican Party are much more negative, with 40% favorable and 50% unfavorable.

The public's ratings of the Republican Party have improved slightly in recent months, edging up from 36% in July to 40% in early November. The current ratings are at roughly the levels seen in April and at several points in 2006. The party's unfavorable ratings are down nine points since September and are now on the low end of what Gallup has measured since 2006.

Ratings of the Democratic Party have not shown much change since July 2006, with between 51% and 57% rating the party favorably over this time.

Overall, the vast majority of both Republicans and Democrats have a favorable opinion of their respective parties -- 91% of Democrats rate the Democratic Party favorably, and 86% of Republicans rate the Republican Party favorably. Interestingly, a higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats positively assess the opposing party (16% vs. 9%). Independents are more positive than negative in their views of the Democratic Party, and much more negative than positive in their ratings of the Republican Party -- accounting in large part for the Democrats’ superior favorable image with the public.

Democratic Party vs. Republican Party Ratings Trends

Americans' ratings of the two political parties were similar when Gallup started tracking this measure in 1992. This pattern remained until Bill Clinton's second term in office, during which Americans generally rated the Democratic Party more positively than the Republican Party. Ratings of the Republican Party reached their lowest level in December 1998, right after the House voted to impeach Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. At that time, just 31% of Americans viewed the Republican Party favorably, compared with a 57% favorable rating for the Democratic Party.

During much of President George W. Bush's first term in office, and even in the earlier parts of his second term, Americans again gave similar ratings to the two parties, with a few instances in which Republicans were rated more favorably and a few others in which Democrats were rated more positively.

Since April 2006, ratings of the Democratic Party have been consistently and substantially higher than those of the Republican Party, with the largest difference coming after the 2006 midterm elections, when the Democrats gained control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 12 years. In that November poll, 57% rated the Democratic Party favorably, while only 35% rated the Republican Party favorably.

Americans’ Identification With the Political Parties

According to Gallup’s most recent poll, 41% of Americans currently consider themselves to be political independents (or members of a third party), 25% identify themselves as Republicans, and 34% as Democrats. With some variation in the precise percentages, since February, Americans have consistently been most inclined to identify themselves as independents.

As Gallup Poll Senior Editor Lydia Saad pointed out earlier this year (see Related Items), it is not unusual for more Americans to identify themselves as independents in non-election years than do so in election years.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,024 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Nov. 2-4, 2007. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

The Republican Party

The Democratic Party