Party affiliation of US voters by gender, orientation, marital status

Changing Partisan Coalitions in a Politically Divided Nation
- What this report tells us – and what it doesn’t
1. The partisanship and ideology of American voters
- Partisans and partisan leaners in the U.S. electorate
- Party identification and ideology
2. Partisanship by race, ethnicity and education
3. Partisanship by gender, sexual orientation, marital and parental status
- Gender and partisanship
- Parents are more Republican than voters without children
4. Age, generational cohorts and party identification
5. Party identification among religious groups and religiously unaffiliated voters
6. Partisanship by family income, home ownership, union membership and veteran status
7. Partisanship in rural, suburban and urban communities
- Demographic differences in partisanship by community type
8. The changing demographic composition of voters and party coalitions
Acknowledgments
Methodology
- Overview of survey methodologies
- The 2023 American Trends Panel profile survey methodology
Appendix A: Adjusting for mode effects when combining telephone surveys and the American Trends Panel
- Measuring party identification across survey modes
- Adjusting telephone survey trends
Appendix B: Religious category definitions
Appendix C: Age cohort definitions

Men continue to be more likely than women to associate with the Republican Party.

Partisan affiliation also varies by marital status, with gender differences in party identification apparent among married and unmarried voters.

Bar chart showing demographic group comparison between registered voters who tend more Republican and those who are more Democratic. Partisanship varies by gender, marital status and sexual orientation.

Sexual orientation is also strongly associated with partisanship among both men and women.

Among all registered voters, men tilt to the GOP (52% of men identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, 46% to the Democratic Party).
By a similar margin, women tilt Democratic (51% Democratic, 44% Republican, including leaners).

Marital status

Married men and women are more likely to identify with or lean toward the Republican Party than their unmarried counterparts, with 59% of married men and half of married women oriented toward the GOP.

And while majorities of both men and women voters who have never been married and do not live with a partner align with the Democratic Party, never-married women are particularly likely to do so:

Women who have never been married are three times as likely to associate with the Democratic Party as with the Republican Party (72% vs. 24%).
By a narrower – though still sizable – margin (61% to 37%), never-married men also favor the Democrats.
Democrats have a substantial advantage among both women and men who live with a partner but are not married, and a narrower edge among those who are divorced or separated.
Widowed men tilt Republican (55% GOP vs. 44% Democratic, including party leaners), while widowed women are about equally likely to associate with the GOP or Democrats (46% and 47%).

Sexual orientation

Lesbian, gay and bisexual women overwhelmingly identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party over the GOP (83% vs. 12%). Similarly, the Democratic Party enjoys a wide advantage among gay and bisexual men (83% vs. 17%).

Straight men are more likely to associate with the Republican Party than straight women (55% vs. 47%).

Gender and partisanship

The Republican Party has held an edge among men for much of the last 30 years. Although that narrowed somewhat between 2019 and 2021, the GOP advantage has since returned.

Trend charts over time showing that among registered voters, the Republican Party has held an edge among men for much of the last 30 years. Although that narrowed somewhat between 2019 and 2021, the GOP advantage has since returned. For women, the Democratic advantage is narrower than it was a few years ago.

While women have consistently been more likely to associate with the Democratic Party over the past several decades, the Democratic edge among women is narrower than it was a few years ago.

Parents are more Republican than voters without children

Dot plot chart showing that at all age levels among registered voters, parents with at least one child under 18 are more Republican-oriented than non-parents.

A slim majority (54%) of fathers of children under age 18 identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, compared with 44% of men who do not have children. There is a nearly identical gap in partisan association between mothers of minor children and women without children.

At all age levels, parents are more Republican-oriented than non-parents. For example, 55% of men ages 35 to 44 who have children under 18 identify with or lean toward the GOP. This compares with about a third (36%) of men of the same age who are not parents.