Using Google Trends I compared the number of searches for “democrat” to “republican” since January 2004, which is the entire history of the service. Blue = democrat and red = republican.
2004:
“Republican” held a slight lead throughout 2004 correctly predicting the election results in November.
2005:
“Republican” still dominated throughout 2005, but “democrat” narrowed the gap and led occasionally.
2006:
Starting in June, “democrat” pulled into the lead and has not looked back:
