The number of people identifying themselves as Republicans has fallen to a new low. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of 15,000 adults in April found that just 31.0% now say they belong to the Grand Old Party. That’s down from 31.5% the month before and reflects a drop of more than six percentage points from the peak of 37.3% during Election 2004.

However, the survey also found a decline in the number identifying themselves as Democrats. Today, 36.5% say they belong to Nancy Pelosi’s party. That’s the lowest total in eleven months and represents a decline from 38.0% since the Democrats began running Congress.

As a result, the number not affiliated with either major party has jumped to an all-time high—32.4%. That’s up eight percentage points since Election 2004 and means that there are now more politically unaffiliated adults than Republicans (see history).

These results are based upon tracking surveys of 15,000 adults per month. The margin of sampling error is less than one percentage point, with a 95% level of confidence. Please keep in mind that figures reported in this article are for all adults, not Likely Voters. Republicans typically do a bit better among Likely Voters (in fact, the two parties ended up even among those who showed up to vote in 2004).

The Democrats net advantage over Republicans is now 5.5 percentage points. That’s down slightly from the peak advantage of 6.9 points following Election 2006. However, the Democratic edge remains larger than at any point prior to the fall of 2006.

Please review Monthly data from January 2004 to April 2007 (More Below).

Democrats currently have public support on their side for the most significant issue of the day—Iraq. Most Americans favor either bringing all troops home from Iraq immediately or establishing a firm timetable for their withdrawal. Most also oppose a Presidential veto of the Iraq funding bill passed by Congress to establish a timetable.

Rasmussen Reports continuously updates favorability ratings and general election match-ups for all Democratic and Republican candidates. Also available are continuously updated ratings for Members of Congress, Other Political Figures, and Journalists

Rasmussen Reports releases updated polling data for the Democrats’ nominating contest are updated on Mondays. Republican results are updated every every Tuesday.