Republicans are fond of ascribing tremendous diversity to their party, but as this latest Gallup survey shows, the truth is that the GOP is just about as diverse as it was in 2008, which is to say, not very much.
The GOP remains disproportionately white, and also, disproportionately male. 53 percent of Republicans are men, while just 47 percent are women. By contrast, the overall population is 49 percent male, 51 percent female. That said, these numbers are an improvement from three years ago, when men were a slightly larger percentage of self-identified Republicans.
The most significant news from the survey is the overall growth of the Republican Party-40 percent of Americans describe themselves as Republicans, up from 37 percent in 2008. These new Republicans come by way of traditional Republican groups. It's not that the GOP has made inroads into minority communities as much as it is that they've deepened their support among non-Hispanic whites.
One last tidbit: Republicans are more likely than the population as a whole to reside in higher-income households: 23 percent of Republicans live in households that make $90,000 or more, compared to 18 percent of Americans overall.
