As Republicans prepare to open their national convention in Milwaukee and renominate Donald Trump for president, here are some key facts about the roughly half of registered voters who identify with or lean toward the party, according to Pew Research Center data.
This Pew Research Center analysis focuses on Republicans’ demographic characteristics and key political attitudes ahead of the 2024 Republican National Convention.
The public opinion data in this analysis comes from several recent Pew Research Center surveys. Links to these surveys, including details about their methodologies, are available in the text.
Republican voters are overwhelmingly White, though less so than in the past. About eight-in-ten Republican voters (79%) are non-Hispanic White, down from 93% nearly two decades ago. Still, Hispanic, Black and Asian voters together make up a much smaller share of Republican voters than Democratic voters (15% vs. 39%).
About two-thirds of Republican voters (64%) do not have a four-year college degree – modestly higher than the share among all U.S. voters (60%).
Overall, about half of Republican voters (51%) are White adults without a college degree, making them the single largest bloc within the party when looking at race, ethnicity and education together. By comparison, White adults without a college degree account for 38% of U.S. voters overall.
Republican voters are older than voters overall. About two-thirds of Republican voters (65%) are ages 50 and older, compared with 59% among all voters.
Just 8% of Republican voters are under 30. Among Democratic voters, those under 30 account for twice that share (16%).
Around eight-in-ten Republican voters (81%) identify with a Christian denomination, compared with 67% of all registered voters. The largest religious group among Republicans is White evangelical Protestants, who make up 30% of GOP registered voters. White evangelicals make up a far smaller share of U.S. voters overall (17%).
Just 15% of Republican voters are religiously unaffiliated, compared with about a quarter of all voters (26%).
The vast majority of Republican voters plan to vote for Donald Trump. More than eight-in-ten GOP voters (84%) say they would vote for Trump if the election were held today, while 13% favor Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Just 3% would support Joe Biden.
In the last two presidential elections, about nine-in-ten Republican voters cast their ballot for Trump (92% in 2020 and 89% in 2016). Read more about views of Trump ahead of the 2024 election in our latest report.
Large majorities of Republican voters are confident that Trump can make good decisions on key policies, but many have reservations about his personal conduct. At least eight-in-ten Republican voters say they are very or somewhat confident that Trump can make good decisions about economic policy (91%), immigration policy (89%), foreign policy (86%) and abortion policy (80%).
However, only about a quarter (26%) like the way he conducts himself personally, while 52% have mixed feelings and 21% don’t like his conduct.
Most Republicans say the stakes of the 2024 presidential election are high. About three-quarters of Republican voters (73%) say it really matters who wins. Just 5% say it doesn’t really matter who wins.
Republicans overwhelmingly see illegal immigration as one of the top problems facing the country. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents overall (not just GOP registered voters), 78% say illegal immigration is a very big problem in the country today, our May 2024 survey found. This is far higher than the share of all U.S. adults who say the same (51%).
About six-in-ten Republicans (61%) say undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States should not be allowed to stay legally, according to an April 2024 survey. The share of Republicans who say this has increased by 19 percentage points since 2020.
Republicans are very negative about the state of the U.S. economy. In particular, Republicans are far more concerned than Democrats about inflation. Eight-in-ten Republicans say inflation is a very big problem in the country today, according to the May 2024 survey. By comparison, 46% of Democrats say this.
The public’s views of the economy are highly partisan, and throughout Biden’s presidency, Republicans have been more negative about the state of the U.S. economy than Democrats. Just 10% of Republicans rated economic conditions excellent or good. During Trump’s administration, Democrats were more negative than Republicans about the economy.
Republicans are more divided over abortion than Democrats are. About six-in-ten Republicans (57%) say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while 41% say it should be legal in all or most cases, according to the April 2024 survey. Among Democrats, 85% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and just 14% say it should be illegal in all or most cases.
Republican hostility toward Democrats has increased significantly in recent decades. Over the past several decades, there has been a sizable increase in the shares of both Republicans and Democrats who view the opposing party very unfavorably. Today, 53% of Republicans have a very unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party, up from 21% three decades ago.
Republicans also nearly unanimously dislike Biden. More than nine-in-ten (93%) say they have an unfavorable opinion of the president, according to the May 2024 survey. Meanwhile, almost a quarter of Republicans (22%) have unfavorable opinions of both Biden and Trump.
