Overall, 42 percent over the course of the last year identified as independents, a slight drop from the 43 percent who identified as such in 2014. | AP Gallup: Share of Democrats reaches record low

The share of Americans identifying as Democrats dropped to a record low in 2015, according to the latest Gallup results published Monday, in the latest indication that Americans’ attachment to either political party is at or nearing historical lows.

Overall, 42 percent over the course of the past year identified as independents, a slight drop from the 43 percent who identified as such in 2014. While Democrats maintained a small advantage over Republicans — 29 percent to 26 percent — the Democratic share is at its lowest in Gallup history.


Prior to 2015, the lowest share of Americans identifying as members of the Democratic Party came in 2014, with 30 percent. Going back to 1988, 29 percent is the lowest overall share of self-identified Democrats since the polling institution began interviewing subjects via telephone instead of in person. According to its data from 1951 to 1987, however, there was never a year in which less than 37 percent identified themselves as Democrats, making the 29 percent the lowest in Gallup’s 65 years of asking the question.

Meanwhile, the share of self-identified Republicans is just 1 percentage point above its Gallup historical low of 25 percent in 2013, dating back to 1988. In its years of in-person interviews prior to 1988, Gallup had several years in which Republicans polled lower than 25 percent. Over roughly the past quarter-century, more Americans have consistently identified as Democrats, though Republicans have pulled even in four years — namely those associated with the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq (2002-2003) and the rise of the tea party (2010 and 2011).

Results for the survey were compiled from 12,137 landline and cellphone interviews conducted throughout the course of 2015 and have a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point.

