Among the 1,355 Republicans in our survey asked the question, fully 61 percent said they were a “Trump supporter, strongly” vs. just 9 percent who said they were a “Republican Party supporter, strongly,” with 16 percent favoring Trump “somewhat” and 12 percent favoring the Republican Party “somewhat.” In this post, we explore who preferred the Republican Party in our survey were compared to those who prefer Trump. The survey, as part of the What the Hell Happened? Project fielded between October 27 and November 7, capturing voters’ attitudes right through the election.

By age breakdown, our results present a mixed picture of the future for the Republican Party. On the one hand, the next generation of Republican voters are less likely to say they support Donald Trump more than the Republican Party than those of other generations. On the other hand, the margins do not bode well for the Republican Party overall. Thirty percent of millennials prefer the GOP over Trump “somewhat” or “strongly,” while 65 percent prefer Trump “somewhat” or “strongly.” By comparison, 81 percent of Silent Generation respondents and 80 percent of Baby Boomer respondents reported supporting Donald Trump over the GOP. Following the Pew Research Center’s coding of generations, respondents were coded into groups by age as follows: 18-37 (Millennials), 38-53 (Generation X), 54-72 (Baby Boomers), 72 and older (Silent).