U.S. Politics
State of the Parties 2024: RNC Edition
Report summary
State of the Parties is an annual feature dating back to 2016 that examines Americans’ attitudes on the Democratic and Republican parties. This report, which focuses on the Republican Party, is the first of two editions Morning Consult will release this year during each national nominating convention.
Key Takeaways
- In a reversal from 2020, voters are now more likely to say it’s the Republican Party that is capable of governing, will keep the country safe and can tackle the big issues.
- These positive trends for the GOP have been driven at least in part by shifting sentiment among key groups such as women, independents, the youngest eligible voters, and Black or Hispanic Americans.
- By a healthy margin, Republican voters are more likely to say the party has changed for the better than for the worse over the past few years. It’s GOP voters who are under 45, men and nonwhite driving these positive perceptions.
- Roughly 2 in 5 GOP voters each describe themselves as “conservative” or “moderate,” while about 1 in 5 identify as “MAGA.” Since last year, the share who say they are conservative has declined amid growth in moderate or MAGA identification.
Data Downloads
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Methodology
Data from this report comes from surveys conducted July 8-10, 2016, Aug. 5-14, 2020, Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 2023, and June 25-27, 2024. The 2016 survey was conducted among a representative sample of 2,001 registered voters, compared with representative samples of 3,735 registered voters in 2020, 3,982 registered voters in 2023 and 3,609 registered voters in 2024. Each survey has an unweighted margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.
About the authors
Cameron Easley is Morning Consult’s head of U.S. Political Analysis. He has led Morning Consult's coverage of U.S. politics and elections since 2016, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Politico, Axios, FiveThirtyEight and on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. Cameron joined Morning Consult from Roll Call, where he was managing editor. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Follow him on Twitter @cameron_easley. Interested in connecting with Cameron to discuss his analysis or for a media engagement or speaking opportunity? Email [email protected].
Eli Yokley is Morning Consult’s U.S. politics analyst. Eli joined Morning Consult in 2016 from Roll Call, where he reported on House and Senate campaigns after five years of covering state-level politics in the Show Me State while studying at the University of Missouri in Columbia, including contributions to The New York Times, Politico and The Daily Beast. Follow him on Twitter @eyokley. Interested in connecting with Eli to discuss his analysis or for a media engagement or speaking opportunity? Email [email protected].
