Democratic Party (United States)

== Demographics ==
{{main|Demographics of the Democratic Party (United States)}}
[[File:Fig 109 - does someone in house belong to union.JPG|thumb|Higher percentages of Democrats than Republicans are members of union households.]]
Since the 2010s, the Democratic Party is strongest among urban residents, union workers, college graduates,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/10/education-polarization-diploma-divide-democratic-party-working-class.html|title=How the Diploma Divide Is Remaking American Politics|first1=Eric|last1=Levitz|website=[[New York (magazine)|New York Intelligencer]]|date=October 19, 2022|access-date=April 24, 2023|archive-date=October 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020215535/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/10/education-polarization-diploma-divide-democratic-party-working-class.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/opinion/education-american-politics.html|title=The 'Diploma Divide' Is the New Fault Line in American Politics|website=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 17, 2023|access-date=April 24, 2023|first1=Doug|last1=Sosnik|archive-date=April 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424073901/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/opinion/education-american-politics.html|url-status=live}}</ref> most ethnic minorities, the unmarried, and sexual minorities.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/10/democrats-iowa-kansas-rural-votes-scholten-king|title=Can Democrats ever win back white, rural America?|first=Chris|last=McGreal|date=November 11, 2018|access-date=March 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308080818/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/10/democrats-iowa-kansas-rural-votes-scholten-king|archive-date=March 8, 2019|url-status=live|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Miller|first1=Gary|last2=Schofield|first2=Norman|year=2003|title=Activists and Partisan Realignment in the United States|journal=American Political Science Review|volume=97|issue=2|pages=245–260|doi=10.1017/S0003055403000650|s2cid=12885628|issn=1537-5943|quote=By 2000, however, the New Deal party alignment no longer captured patterns of partisan voting. In the intervening 40 years, the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts had triggered an increasingly race-driven distinction between the parties. ... Goldwater won the electoral votes of five states of the Deep South in 1964, four of them states that had voted Democratic for 84 years (Califano 1991, 55). He forged a new identification of the Republican party with racial conservatism, reversing a century-long association of the GOP with racial liberalism. This in turn opened the door for Nixon's "Southern strategy" and the Reagan victories of the eighties.}}</ref> The victory of Republican [[Donald Trump]] in 2016 brought about a realignment in which many working-class voters voted Republican.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Cohn|first1=Nate|date=June 11, 2012|title=Obama's Problem With White, Non-College Educated Voters is Getting Worse|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/103969/obamas-problem-white-non-college-educated-voters-getting-worse|magazine=[[The New Republic]]|access-date=February 13, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Teixeira-2022">{{Cite web |last=Teixeira |first=Ruy |author-link=Ruy Teixeira |date=November 6, 2022 |title=Democrats' Long Goodbye to the Working Class |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/democrats-long-goodbye-to-the-working-class/672016/ |access-date=November 8, 2022 |website=[[The Atlantic]] |language=en |quote=As we move into the endgame of the 2022 election, the Democrats face a familiar problem. America’s historical party of the working class keeps losing working-class support. And not just among White voters. Not only has the emerging Democratic majority I once predicted failed to materialize, but many of the non-White voters who were supposed to deliver it are instead voting for Republicans... From 2012 to 2020, the Democrats not only saw their support among White working-class voters — those without college degrees — crater, they also saw their advantage among non-White working-class voters fall by 18 points. And between 2016 and 2020 alone, the Democratic advantage among Hispanic voters declined by 16 points, overwhelmingly driven by the defection of working-class voters. In contrast, Democrats' advantage among White college-educated voters improved by 16 points from 2012 to 2020, an edge that delivered Joe Biden the White House. |archive-date=January 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107212010/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/democrats-long-goodbye-to-the-working-class/672016/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite interview|last=Teixeira|first=Ruy|interviewer=[[Steve Inskeep]]|title=Democrats' Problem: White, Working-Class Voters|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/01/02/374511123/democrats-problem-white-working-class-voters|access-date=May 5, 2015|publisher=[[NPR]]|date=January 2, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/04/new-republican-party-working-class-coalition-00122822|title=The Emerging Working-Class Republican Majority|first=Patrick|last=Ruffini|date=November 4, 2023|website=POLITICO}}</ref> In the 2020 presidential election, Democrats won the majority of votes from African American, Hispanic, and Asian voters; young voters; women; urban voters; voters with college degrees; and voters with no religious affiliation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/national-results|title=National Results 2020 President exit polls.|website=www.cnn.com}}</ref>

As of 2023, every Democratic president, Democratic vice president, and Democratic presidential nominee has been a Christian. According to the [[Pew Research Center]], 78.4% of Democrats in the 116th United States Congress were Christian.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 3, 2019 |title=Faith on the Hill: The religious composition of the 116th Congress |url=https://www.pewforum.org/2019/01/03/faith-on-the-hill-116/ |access-date=May 18, 2020 |work=Pew Research Center |archive-date=February 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218040423/https://www.pewforum.org/2019/01/03/faith-on-the-hill-116/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the vast majority of white evangelical and [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Latter-day Saint]] Christians favor the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=2020-11-03|title=National Exit Polls: How Different Groups Voted|language=en-US|last1=Andre|first1=Michael|display-authors=et al|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/exit-polls-president.html|access-date=2020-12-05|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

A critical component of the Party coalition has been [[Labor unions in the United States|organized labor]]. Labor unions supply a great deal of the money, [[Grassroots|grass roots]] [[Political organisation|political organization]], and voters for the party. Democrats are far more likely to be represented by unions than Republican voters are.<ref name="Kullgren-2020" /> Younger Americans, including [[millennials]] and [[Generation Z]], tend to vote mostly for Democratic candidates in recent years.<ref name="trends">{{cite web |date=March 20, 2018 |title=1. Trends in party affiliation among demographic groups |url=http://www.people-press.org/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605002725/https://www.people-press.org/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/ |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |access-date=December 29, 2018 |publisher=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref> According to exit polling, [[LGBT Americans]] typically vote Democratic in national elections.<ref name="press">{{cite web |date=November 26, 2008 |title=Gay Support for Obama Similar to Dems in Past Elections |url=http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/press/GaySupportForObamaSimilarToDemsInPastElections.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091209021908/http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/press/GaySupportForObamaSimilarToDemsInPastElections.html |archive-date=December 9, 2009 |access-date=June 17, 2010 |publisher=Law.ucla.edu}}</ref>

Support for the [[civil rights movement]] in the 1960s by Democratic presidents [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] helped increase the Democrats' support within the African American community. African Americans have consistently voted between 85% and 95% Democratic from the 1960s to the 2000s, making African Americans one of the largest of the party's constituencies.<ref name="Blacks and the Democratic Party">{{cite web |last=Jackson |first=Brooks |date=April 18, 2008 |title=Blacks and the Democratic Party |url=http://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/blacks-and-the-democratic-party/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103050026/http://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/blacks%2Dand%2Dthe%2Ddemocratic%2Dparty/ |archive-date=November 3, 2011 |access-date=October 30, 2011 |publisher=FactCheck.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bositis |first=David |title=Blacks and the 2012 Democratic National Convention; page 9, table 1: black votes in presidential elections, 1936 - 2008 |url=https://jointcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Blacks-and-the-2012-Democratic-National-Convention.pdf |website=Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies}}</ref> Geographically, the party is strongest in the Northeastern United States, the [[Great Lakes region]], parts of the Southwestern United States, and the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]]. The party is also very strong in [[List of United States cities by population|major cities]], regardless of region.<ref name="cities">{{cite web |last1=Thompson |first1=Derek |title=How Democrats Conquered the City |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/brief-history-how-democrats-conquered-city/597955/ |website=The Atlantic |date=September 13, 2019 |access-date=March 13, 2020 |archive-date=March 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200307075726/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/brief-history-how-democrats-conquered-city/597955/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/united-states/2010/11/11/the-long-goodbye|date=November 11, 2010|newspaper=The Economist|title=The long goodbye|quote=In 1981 Republicans took control of the Senate for the first time since 1953, but most Southern elected officials remained white Democrats. When Republicans took control of the House in 1995, white Democrats still comprised one-third of the South's tally. ... white Southern Democrats have met their Appomattox: they will account for just 24 of the South's 155 senators and congressmen in the 112th United States Congress.|access-date=February 20, 2023}}</ref>