White and Christian voters are abandoning the Democratic Party, according to a remarkable new analysis of political party demographics.

The Pew Research Center found that there is now a 29-point white gap, the largest ever between the GOP and Democrats.



According to the new analysis, "non-Hispanic whites make up 57 percent of all Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters, down significantly from 76 percent in 1992. By contrast, though the share of GOP voters who are white also has declined since 1992, the change has been much more modest: Currently, 86 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters are non-Hispanic whites, compared with 93 percent in 1992. As a result of these changes, the 17-percentage-point gap between the share of white voters in the Republican and Democratic parties seen in 1992 has grown to a 29-point gap today."

Ditto for Christian voters, with the share of atheists and other religiously unaffiliated voters nearly tripling in the Democratic Party.



Said Pew, "The pace of change in religious affiliation has been far faster among Democratic than Republican voters, resulting in a widening gap between the two parties in the shares who do not affiliate with a religion. In 1996, just 10 percent of Democratic voters were religiously unaffiliated; today that share has nearly tripled to 29 percent. Among Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters, the share not affiliating with a religion has increased from 6 percent to 12 percent over the past two decades."



On the positive side for the Democrats, that party is getting younger and smarter.

"A greater proportion of Democrats than Republicans now have a college degree or more education," said Pew, adding, "The Republican Party – once more youthful than the Democratic Party – has aged rapidly over the past 24 years."

See the full analysis here.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com