--- title: Republicans Millennials Most Likely to Defect After Trump description: According to a new study, 23% of young people who said they were Republicans in 2015 now identify as Democrats canonical: https://time.com/4786694/donald-trump-republican-party-switch-poll/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-19T20:50:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:01:48.165Z article:section: Politics og:title: Nearly a Quarter of Republican Millennials Have Defected, Study Says og:description: 23% of young voters who were Republicans in 2015 are now Democrats og:url: https://time.com/4786694/donald-trump-republican-party-switch-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5939147b9599fe0/6988ce2fcf40a805e8c47c7d/gettyimages-621662298.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Campaigns In Scranton, PA One Day Before Election og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nearly a Quarter of Republican Millennials Have Defected, Study Says twitter:description: 23% of young voters who were Republicans in 2015 are now Democrats twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5939147b9599fe0/6988ce2fcf40a805e8c47c7d/gettyimages-621662298.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nearly a Quarter of GOP Millennials Have Defected from the Party of Trump, Study Says ## Video: Trump Says Special Counsel Appointment Is A "Witch Hunt" [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Says Special Counsel Appointment Is A "Witch Hunt"](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cWBwNjT7.m3u8) (1:05)  _Published 2017-05-18. President Donald Trump denounced the appointment of a special counsel to investigate his campaign's ties with Russia Thursday, repeatedly calling it an unprecedented "witch hunt" that "hurts our country terribly."_  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 19, 2017 8:50 PM CUT  A boy listens to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally in the Lakawanna College Student Union November 7, 2016 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (Chip Somodevilla--Getty Images) A boy listens to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally in the Lakawanna College Student Union November 7, 2016 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (Chip Somodevilla--Getty Images)Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 19, 2017 8:50 PM CUT Nearly a quarter of young people who identified as Republicans in 2015 now lean towards Democrats, according to a [new study. ](http://www.people-press.org/2017/05/17/partisan-identification-is-sticky-but-about-10-switched-parties-over-the-past-year/ "undefined") Overall, most people who identify with a certain party tend to maintain their political affiliation. But according to a [Pew Research study](http://www.people-press.org/2017/05/17/partisan-identification-is-sticky-but-about-10-switched-parties-over-the-past-year/ "undefined") about party loyalty, young Republicans are far more likely to switch parties than older Republicans or Democrats of any age. The researchers found that only about half of surveyed Republicans under 30 stayed steadfastly loyal to their party from 2015 on: 21% left the party but returned by March 2017, and 23% defected to the Democrats. That was significantly higher than the number of young Democrats who defected to the Republican side (9%) or the number of older Democrats who defected (14%.) Overall, both Republicans and Democrats have only about a 10% defection rate. But between 2015 and 2017, the data suggests that Trump has been the main reason for defection in both directions. Among Republicans who have defected from the party, 57% said they strongly disapprove of Trump, among Democrats who have defected from their party, 32% strongly approve of Trump. Overall, people who are less politically engaged are more likely to switch sides, and Democrats had a slight edge among those voters: 15% of less engaged Republicans became Democrats, while 12% of less engaged Democrats became Republicans. The research was conducted by the American Trends Panel at the Pew Research Center, in a survey of[ 5,154 adults over two years. ](http://www.people-press.org/2017/05/17/partisan-identification-is-sticky-but-about-10-switched-parties-over-the-past-year/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4786694/donald-trump-republican-party-switch-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4786694/donald-trump-republican-party-switch-poll/"},"headline":"Nearly a Quarter of GOP Millennials Have Defected from the Party of Trump, Study Says","datePublished":"2017-05-19T20:50:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:01:48.165Z","description":"23% of young voters who were Republicans in 2015 are now Democrats","url":"https://time.com/4786694/donald-trump-republican-party-switch-poll/","keywords":["republicans","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5939147b9599fe0/6988ce2fcf40a805e8c47c7d/gettyimages-621662298.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5939147b9599fe0/6988ce2fcf40a805e8c47c7d/gettyimages-621662298.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Campaigns In Scranton, PA One Day Before Election","caption":"Donald Trump Campaigns In Scranton, PA One Day Before Election","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/republicans/","name":"republicans"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4786694/donald-trump-republican-party-switch-poll/","name":"Nearly a Quarter of GOP Millennials Have Defected from the Party of Trump, Study Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump Says Special Counsel Appointment Is A \"Witch Hunt\"","description":"President Donald Trump denounced the appointment of a special counsel to investigate his campaign's ties with Russia Thursday, repeatedly calling it an unprecedented \"witch hunt\" that \"hurts our country terribly.\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cWBwNjT7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-05-18T21:24:06.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cWBwNjT7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4786694/donald-trump-republican-party-switch-poll/","duration":"PT1M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4786694/donald-trump-republican-party-switch-poll/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```