Pay more attention

Poll: Democrats starting to pay more attention to election

By Nick Gass

Even as the race for the Democratic nomination grinds on and the Republican Party has found its presumptive nominee, more Republicans still say they are following the news of the presidential election closer than do their Democratic counterparts, according to the results of a Gallup survey released Monday.

Nearly half—47 percent—of Republican and Republican-leaning independents said they are following the election "very closely," in line with the 48 percent and 49 percent who said the same in April and March, respectively, when the primary process was in full swing.

Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 39 percent said the same in mid-May, an increase of five points from April but roughly the same as the 38 percent in March who said they are very closely following the race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Overall, 40 percent of national adults said they are closely following the race, with 43 percent of men and 37 percent of women choosing the option over "somewhat closely," "not too closely" and "not at all." Fifty-one percent of those between the ages of 50 and 64, as well as those older than 65, said they are closely following the race, compared to 32 percent of people between the ages of 30 and 49 and 26 percent between the ages of 18 to 29.

Gallup conducted the poll from May 13-15 via landlines and cellphones, surveying 1,537 adults with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The sample includes 699 Democratic and Democratic-leaning independents and 677 Republican and Republican-leaning independents, both of which carry margins of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.