Since last year’s presidential election, some Republicans have been running for the hills.
Only 38% of Americans self-identify as Republicans or Republican-leaning independents during 2017 so far, according to an average of monthly numbers from Gallup. This number marks the lowest it’s been in more than a quarter century of polling, stretching back to 1991.
Over the last year, the polling data shows the GOP share of the electorate falling from a 42% monthly average around the presidential election in November 2016 down to a 37% monthly average now, one year later.
That also means roughly one in eight people who identified as Republicans or Republican-leaning in November 2016 no longer do so. (The number of Democrats has held roughly steady over the same period.)
Meanwhile, an average of 45% of the US population says they identify as Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents in 2017 so far. The gap between Democrats and Republicans marks the widest Democratic advantage in the electorate since former President Barack Obama took office in 2009.
Republicans have hit lower marks than 37% in monthly averages. In the aftermath of Obama’s election in December 2008, only 34% of Americans identified as Republican vs. a whopping 53% of Americans who said they identified as Democrats.
Trump’s approval rating among Gallup’s self-identified Republicans sat at 78% in the most recent weekly numbers, matching the lowest mark of his presidency so far.
Generally, more Democrats live in the United States than Republicans, but elections are still competitive because some core Democratic groups — like young people and nonwhites — tend to vote at lower rates than core Republican groups.