Older voters are much more likely to follow party lines – their votes can’t be changed

Older voters overwhelmingly identify with a party; among younger voters, substantial numbers lean In addition to the differences in the overall partisan tilt of younger and older voters, younger voters are considerably more likely than older voters to opt out of identifying directly with a party. For instance, among voters 80 and older, 77% identify with a party (49% as Republicans, 28% as Democrats). About two-in-ten instead say they are “something else” or independent, with most of them leaning to one of the parties. By comparison, only about half (52%) of voters under 25 identify directly with a party (38% Democrat, 14% Republican). About half instead say they are something else or independent, with 28% leaning Democratic and 20% leaning Republican. Partisanship among men and women within age groups The age differences in partisanship seen in the public overall are evident among both men and women. For instance, both men and women under 30 align with Democrats by about a two-to-one margin. Men and women voters ages 30 to 49 are fairly divided in their partisan allegiances, though the Democratic Party holds a modest edge among women in this age group. Republicans have a substantial advantage among men 50 and older, while women this age are about equally likely to affiliate with each of the two parties. Race, age and partisanship Among White, Hispanic and Asian voters, older adults today are generally more Republican (and less Democratic) than younger adults. But this is not the case for Black voters: 17% of Black voters under 50 identify as or lean Republican, compared with just 7% of Black voters 50 and older. In surveys dating back to the 1990s, younger Black voters consistently have either been somewhat more Republican than older Black voters (as in 1999, when 15% of those under 50 were or leaned Republican vs. 8% of those 50 and older), or there has been no difference in Black partisanship by age.

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The partisanship of generational cohorts

Looking at the partisanship of people born at roughly the same time (age cohorts) allows us to compare across generations over time. (For details on the age cohorts, visit Appendix C.)

Today, each younger age cohort is somewhat more Democratic-oriented than the one before it. But that has not always been the case. For instance, in the late 1990s, the balance of partisanship of voters across age groups (cohorts) varied only very modestly:

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In 1999, voters who were in their 70s at the time – those who were born in the 1920s and came of age during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt – were 52% Democratic in their orientation, 46% Republican. The youngest age cohort at the time – voters in their 20s, born in the 1970s – had the exact same partisan makeup. Only one age cohort stood out as different – those born in the 1960s (then in their 30s) were more Republican, on balance, than other age groups. Ten years later, in 2009, the then-youngest age cohort (people born in the 1980s, then in their 20s) was clearly more Democratic-oriented than older groups, but there was little difference between the older cohorts (though those born in the 1960s remained slightly more Republican than both groups older and younger than them). Now, and for the last several years, a starker – and more linear – age pattern is evident. Those born in the 1990s (now in their mid-20s to early 30s) are more Democratic than those born in the 1980s, who are in turn more Democratic than those born in the 1970s. And the oldest age cohorts are the most Republican-oriented.