Poll: More calling themselves Republicans

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- The number of U.S. adults identifying themselves as Republicans last month reached the highest level six years, Rasmussen Reports said Monday.

While the number of adults calling themselves Republicans was 37 percent in December, up 1 percentage point from November, the number of adults calling themselves Democrats fell to 33.7 percent, down 1 percentage point from the previous month, results indicated. Both

Rasmussen said the figures reflect the largest number of Republicans in the nation since December 2004 and the lowest number of Democrats since November 2002.

Rasmussen Reports said its polling has found more people identifying themselves as Republicans than Democrats for the second straight month.

In each of the recent election cycles, the winning party gained in net partisan identification during the course of the election year, Rasmussen Reports said, noting that gains can be short-lived. After the 2004 election, the Republican partisan decline began in February 2005, the pollster said, while the Democratic edge in 2006 began to slip as soon as the party took control of Congress in January.

Rasmussen Reports reviewed data from monthly telephone interviews since November 2002. The margin of error is less than 1 percentage point.