about this report
This article is part of Morning Consult’s standing feature gauging perceptions of America’s major political parties. See all of our work here.
Fewer than 1 in 5 Democrats and Republicans defined their parties in policy terms while roughly two-thirds referenced various values.
Republicans were most likely to use some iteration of the word “freedom,” while the largest share of Democrats talked about “people.”
Republican voters were slightly more likely than Democratic voters to raise negative sentiments when describing their party (11 percent to 7 percent).
Voters often voice strong views on current policy issues, but when asked to define what their parties stand for, values tend to weigh heavier in their responses, according to the latest edition of Morning Consult’s annual State of the Parties survey.