Young adults have become substantially more likely to align themselves with the Democratic Party since 2006, according to a new poll.

A Gallup poll released Friday found that over the last eight years the average gap in favor of the Democratic Party among young adults has been 18 percentage points. Last year 53 percent of young Americans identified with the Democratic Party or said they leaned Democratic while 35 percent aligned themselves with the Republican Party, Gallup said.

The poll cites the racial and ethnic diversity of today’s young adults as a major reason youth are likely to prefer the Democratic Party.

Gallup estimated that 54 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds in the U.S. are non-Hispanic whites and 45 percent are nonwhite, compared to 71 percent non-Hispanic whites and 29 percent nonwhites when the poll began measuring Hispanic ethnicity in 1995.The poll found that in 2013 the Democratic Party had a 37-point advantage over Republican Party among nonwhite Americans between the ages of 18 and 29.

The poll notes that the Democratic shift among young Americans comes at a time when senior citizens are more likely to identify as Republican.