Fox News Poll: Democrats more politically active than Republicans

Jan. 21, 2017: Women with bright pink hats and signs gather early and are set to make their voices heard on the first full day of Donald Trump's presidency. (AP)

A year into the Trump administration, the latest Fox News Poll finds an uptick in political activity among registered voters, with Democrats leading the charge.

The poll, released Thursday, asked voters to think about their “political activity since the 2016 presidential election.”  Here’s what they say:

• Thirty-five percent “contacted a public official,” (up 2 percentage points since the question was first asked in February 2017).

• One-quarter (25 percent) “contributed money to a political cause or candidate” vs. 22 percent last February.

• Fifteen percent have “taken part in a protest march.” It was 14 percent a year ago.

• Twelve percent say they “volunteered for a political candidate or cause.”

READ THE COMPLETE POLL RESULTS.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they’ve participated in a protest march (24 percent vs. 7 percent), volunteered for a political candidate (16 percent vs. 9 percent), and contacted a public official (39 percent vs. 34 percent).

Partisans were equally likely to have contributed money to a political cause (27 percent apiece).

“There does appear to be a participation gap and it favors the Democrats,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “The big question is whether Republicans who aren’t going to meetings or volunteering or contributing will do the main thing GOP leaders want them to do in 2018: show up on Election Day to save their congressional majorities.”

A silver lining for the GOP is that since last February, Republicans have upped their game when it comes to making contributions to a political cause (+12 points), communicating with a public official (+10), and participating in marches (+5).

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,005 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from February 10-13, 2018.  The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.