The Democratic Party’s Transformation More Diverse, Educated, and Liberal but Less Religious
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Key Points
- The number of white Americans identifying with the Democratic Party collapsed during Barack Obama's presidency. In 2009, more than two-thirds (68 percent) of Democrats were white. Today, only 56 percent of Democrats are white.
- Over the past two decades, the Democratic Party has become much more liberal. Half (50 percent) of Democrats today identify as liberal, while only 28 percent did so in 1998.
- Democrats are far less religious today than they were a generation ago. Only 43 percent of Democrats today say religion is a very important part of their lives—a roughly 20 percentage point drop from the late 1990s
