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In response to
"I believe the upshot of this is that there’s fewer people who identify as Republican than Democrat, and I hope that’s a trend that continues. -- nm"
by
Mop
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Pew Research Center generally has some great information and analysis on the topic, but I'm struggling to find absolute numbers.
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Based on a recent report on their website, non-affiliated voters have a slight edge at 34% of registered voters, the Democratic Party has 33% of the voters, and about 29% have registered with the Republican Party.
But there are two critically important things to keep in mind:
1. These numbers reflect registrations, not voter activity. There are a lot of other studies that show people who register as Republicans tend to vote more often, and more consistently for their own party's candidates, than registered Democrats. Even non-affiliated voters tend to vote more often and more regularly than registered Democrats, but they vote all over the map in terms of preferred candidates.
2. A lot of polls--like Gallup--will ask a slightly different question. Rather than asking for registration, they will will ask: "In politics, as of today, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat or an independent?" I think that is actually a better question. Most people are motivated by feelings when voting (compared to factual or strategic analysis). And there are a lot of people registered in one party who really should be in another party based on their ideologies, outlook on life, and other characteristics. So asking people which party they feel most closely aligned with is a more accurate measure of party affiliation compared to registration numbers.
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