Nine-in-ten Democratic voters say they would vote for Harris if the election were held today, including 58% who strongly support her.
As the Democratic Party prepares to open its national convention in Chicago and nominate Vice President Kamala Harris for president, here are 5 key facts about the roughly half of registered voters who identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, according to Pew Research Center data.
1. The racial and ethnic composition of Democratic voters has changed a lot in recent decades. More than four-in-ten Democratic voters (44%) are Hispanic, Black, Asian, another race or multiracial. This is roughly double the share in 1996 (23%).
By comparison, while Republicans are also more racially and ethnically diverse than in the past, the change among Republicans is less pronounced. About eight-in-ten Republican voters (79%) are non-Hispanic White.
2. The share of Democratic voters with at least a four-year college degree has roughly doubled since the 1990s. The increase in voters with a college degree has been sharper among Democrats than among Republicans.
Today, 45% of Democratic voters have at least a bachelor’s degree, up from 22% in 1996. Among Republicans, the change has been more modest: 35% of GOP voters have at least a four-year college degree, compared with 27% in 1996.
3. Religiously, nearly half of Democratic voters (46%) identify as something other than Christian. Like the broader U.S. population, registered voters have become less religious and less Christian in recent decades. These changes have been much more evident among Democratic than Republican voters. The share of Democratic voters who are religiously unaffiliated has roughly doubled since 2008, from 18% to 38%.
4. Harris draws more support from Democratic voters – and considerably more strong support – than President Joe Biden did. Nine-in-ten Democratic voters say they would vote for Harris if the election were held today, including 58% who strongly support her. Another 5% of Democratic voters favor independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and 4% favor former Republican President Donald Trump, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
5. Most Democratic voters (66%) say they are “extremely” motivated to vote this fall. This is 10 points higher than the share who said this in early July.
Over the same period, there has been a similar increase in the share of Republican voters who say they are extremely motivated to vote, from 59% in July to 68% today.
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