Since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Republicans aren’t just smiling more — they’re drinking less. A new Gallup poll finds GOP alcohol consumption has plummeted to historic lows, marking the biggest drop in nearly 90 years of recorded data.
As of July 2025, only 46 percent of Republicans said they had consumed alcohol this year, a nearly one-third decrease from 2023. In contrast, Democrats showed only a modest 5 percent drop in drinking over the same period. Overall, U.S. adult alcohol consumption has hit its lowest point since Gallup began tracking in 1939, with just 54 percent of adults saying they drink at all.
The reasons for this shift are varied. Among Republicans, cultural, religious, and political influences appear to be playing a major role. President Trump himself is a lifelong teetotaler, citing his late brother Fred Trump Jr.’s battle with alcoholism as a reason for avoiding alcohol entirely. His example is echoed by others in the GOP, including Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who gave up drinking after overcoming heroin addiction, as well as prominent conservatives like Tucker Carlson and Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk.
Faith-based communities that lean Republican — including Evangelicals, Mormons, and Amish — may also be contributing to the decline. These groups traditionally abstain from alcohol and have grown in political alignment with the GOP in recent years.
Broader societal factors are influencing the trend across the board. Gallup found that two-thirds of Americans aged 18-34 now believe even moderate drinking — defined as one to two drinks a day — is harmful to their health. Half of young adults report not drinking at all, up from 41 percent in 2023. Those who do drink say they now consume an average of 2.8 drinks, down from 3.8 last year.
Industry experts have floated other explanations, such as the availability of legal marijuana and the growing use of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, both of which may reduce interest in alcohol. But for Republicans, the current political climate seems to be fueling a unique sense of optimism — and perhaps reducing the perceived need for a stiff drink.
Many on the right view Trump’s second term as a “Golden Age” of conservative victories, giving them little reason to drown their sorrows. Democrats, however, have to contend with more than three years of Trump in the Oval Office without the leverage of him seeking reelection — unless, as some speculate, he decides to run in 2028 just to rattle his opponents.
That dynamic, some conservatives joke, might explain why Democrat drinking rates have barely moved. “They’ve got to get through three-and-a-half more years of Trump winning,” one Republican quipped, “and he’s having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have.”
While some Republicans will still enjoy the occasional cocktail — with the word “allegedly” thrown in for humor when telling stories — more are embracing the Trump-era good times with a clear head. For them, savoring political victories without the haze of alcohol is just another way to enjoy what they see as one of the most successful and entertaining periods in modern American politics.