During the month of September, 37.2% of Americans considered themselves to be Democrats, 32.6% said they were Republicans, and 30.2% were not affiliated with either major party. Those figures are little changed from August and are also very similar to where they were a year ago.

So far this year, the number of Democrats has ranged from a low of 35.9% in July to a high of 37.8% in February (see history).

For Republicans, the bleakest month was May when just 30.8% of all adults identified with the GOP. This month’s total of 32.6% is their best since July of 2006.

The gap between the parties, a 4.5 percentage point advantage for the Democrats, is the smallest it’s been in over a year. But, it’s still a bigger advantage than the Democrats enjoyed in any month from January 2004 through July 2006.

Three years ago this month, as the nation was preparing for Election 2004, the Democrats’ advantage was just six-tenths of a percentage point. That was the closest the Republicans have been to parity over the past four years.

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.

Democrats continue to have a significant advantage on ten key issues tracked by Rasmussen Reports. Nancy Pelosi's Party also holds a solid lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Rasmussen Reports provides a daily Presidential Tracking Poll and maintains a database of key stats for all Democratic and Republican candidates. Also available are continuously updated ratings for Members of Congress, Other Political Figures, and Journalists.