Party registration graph from 2000 - the country was not divided right in the middle

U.S. adults are still almost equally divided between Democrats (34%) and Republicans (31%), with the Democrats maintaining a very small advantage. One quarter of all adults consider themselves Independents.

These are some of the results of Harris Poll surveys of a total of 10,012 U.S. adults conducted by telephone by Harris Interactive® between January and December 2004.

The Harris Poll® also found that conservatives continue to outnumber liberals by 36 to 18 percent but that the largest number of people think of themselves as moderates (41%). The remarkable thing about these numbers is how little they have changed over the past 30 to 40 years. Harris Interactive data over four decades show that the average numbers of moderates have remained at 40 or 41 percent, and that conservatives have only varied between 32 and 38 percent, while liberals have remained at a steady 18 percent since the 1970s.

However, the long term trend for party identification has changed over the last 40 years, with the Democratic lead declining from 21 percentage points in the 1970s, to 11 points in the 1980s, seven points in the 1990s, and (so far) five points in this decade.

Every year, The Harris Poll® combines the results of its nationwide telephone polls conducted throughout the year to measure party identification and political philosophy in an effort to accurately report on the modest changes from year to year. The Harris Polls conducted by telephone in 2006 show the Democrats continuing to increase their lead over Republicans in party identification. Currently, the Democrats’ lead over the Republicans is nine percentage points, up from six percentage points in 2005 and three points in 2004. This is now the largest Democratic lead since 1998, when it was also nine percentage points.