The GOP primary electorate tilts older, whiter and ‘very’ conservative — and it’s changed since 2016

Republican primary voters are older, whiter and much more conservative than the electorate at large.

That should surprise no one who follows American politics, but our most recent national NBC News poll captures the profile of what the GOP primary electorate looks like.

Thirty-nine percent of Republican primary voters are age 65 and older, compared with 25% of the overall electorate and 25% of Democratic primary voters, according to the poll.

Eighty-nine percent of GOP primary voters are white, versus 72% of all voters.

And 67% of Republican primary voters say they are conservative, including 41% who are “very” conservative. 

That compares with 36% of all voters who are conservative, including 18% who are “very” conservative.

There are two slight — but significant — changes to the composition of the Republican electorate since the 2016 election cycle, when Donald Trump won the party’s presidential nomination and the White House, per the NBC News poll’s historical results.

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One, the GOP is slightly more diverse than it was in 2016, when 92% of all Republican voters were white (versus 89% now). 

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

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And two, the share of the GOP electorate without college degrees is larger. In 2012, 48% of Republicans didn’t have college degrees. By 2016, that percentage had increased to 58%.

Now it’s 63%, according to the NBC News poll.