At the beginning of 2021, 49 percent of the country identified as Democrats, while 40 percent said they were Republicans. At the end of 2021, 47 percent said they were Republicans, and only 42 percent said Democrat. That’s a 14 point shift towards the GOP.
It’s been 25 years since the GOP held a five-point lead over Democrats.
These Gallup findings are based on 12,000 randomly sampled adults contacted throughout 2021:
The year 2021 was an eventful one in politics, after a similarly eventful 2020 that also saw major shifts in party preferences. In early 2021, Democratic strength reached levels not seen in nearly a decade. By the third quarter, those Democratic gains evaporated as Biden’s job approval declined. The political winds continued to become more favorable to Republicans in the fourth quarter, giving the GOP an advantage over Democrats larger than any they had achieved in more than 25 years.
