For the third straight month, the number of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats inched up while the number of Republicans fell slightly.

In October, 37.8% of American adults considered themselves Democrats. That’s up three-tenths of a point from September and a full-percentage point since July. While President Obama’s party has been regaining ground since bottoming out in July, the number of Democrats nationwide remains lower than in any month from December 2008 through June 2009. (See the History of Party Trends from January 2004 to the present.)

Still, there are more Democrats than Republicans. A total of 31.9% now claim an affiliation with the GOP. That’s down a point-and-a-half since July 2009 and the lowest number of Republicans since July 2008.

The number of unaffiliated adults held steady in October at 30.3%.
Rasmussen Reports tracks this information based on telephone interviews with approximately 15,000 adults per month and has been doing so since November 2002. The margin of error for the full sample is less than one percentage point, with a 95% level of confidence.
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Democrats now enjoy a 5.9 percentage-point edge over Republicans. That’s up two-and-a-half points since July and confirms other recent polling that suggests Democrats fell to low levels of support in July but have gained back some of their losses since then.

Keep in mind that figures reported in this article are for all adults, not likely voters. Republicans are a bit more likely to participate in elections than Democrats.

Obama's overall approval rating in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval Index fell below 50% for the first time in July. A month-by-month review of the president’s ratings shows that they held steady in August and September before declining slightly last month.

Data from our monthly partisan identification survey is used to set weighting targets for other Rasmussen Reports surveys. The targets are based on results from the previous three months.

In recent months, Republicans have gained ground on 10 key issues tracked by Rasmussen Reports and on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

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See the History of Party Trends from January 2004 to the present.