I have to ask this question. With all do respect to the original posters of these TWO stories.

[usaf-vet]

I wonder if the GOP hasn't figured out that there is a distinct republican advantage to a disorganized CoVid-19 lack of a national plan. And this is that part of there bigger plan to suppress democratic registration and turn out at the polls in November.
--------------------------------------------VOTER SUPPRESSION BY VIRUS.-----------------------------------

From this post earlier in the day.

Demovictory9 (13,417 posts)

Democrat voter registration is suffering disproportionately from the slowdown.
Late last month, the Democratic data firm TargetSmart found that while new voter registrations had plummeted amid the coronavirus pandemic, those who were registering in competitive states tended to be whiter, older, and less Democratic than before.

When he saw the numbers, Ben Wessel, executive director of NextGen America, said he "got nervous," and other Democratic-leaning groups felt the same

But the effect of the pandemic on voter registrations was severe. Department of motor vehicle closures, stay-at-home orders, and restrictions on large gatherings limited opportunities for new registrations. In a report on the decline last month, the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research concluded that “the steep decline in new registrations may prove to be a sizable obstacle to what was set, pre-pandemic, to be a record election for turnout.”


In-person registrations ground nearly to a halt as people stopped congregating and college campuses closed. For people of color and other marginalized communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic, Gardner said, it was a “perfect, horrible storm in terms of undercutting registration efforts, and undercutting people’s ability to get registered.”

The study from TargetSmart was especially alarming for Democrats because it spotlighted not only falling registrations but which party was damaged most in battleground states. In a majority of 10 states, TargetSmart studied, registrations skewed older and whiter than before the pandemic. And in the states included in the study that registers by party — Florida, Colorado, Maine, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — Democrats made up a smaller share of new registrants than before.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/11/trump-voter-registration-355152
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213738388

And this current post:
shockey80 (4,267 posts)

Trump, America, have [has]proven something beyond any doubt.
You can't fight a pandemic state by state, county by county. You have to fight it at the national level. Everyone has to be on the same page.

Trump has never attempted to put in a national plan in place and we are paying a big price for it. The virus is now out of control in many states and I fear this could spread the virus throughout the country again. Even the states that have gotten the virus somewhat under control could get hit again.

This winter could be America's Dark Age.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213738824

[Me.]

1. An Advantage?

When it's their base that's dying and burning absentee ballots?

[usaf-vet]

3. We are not signing up as many dem. voters. CV-19 is not selective for ONLY dems. We obey mask rules.

[Me.]

8. I'm Not Sure I'm Buying This

There has been a big push on this story and I'm wondering why. I'm also remembering that Dems have had the voting advantage in the primaries.

[HotTeaBag]

9. It seems to be true.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/11/trump-voter-registration-355152

I find it difficult to believe as well - but mostly because where the Hell are more Republican voters hiding that they need to be newly registered?

Seems to me that the registration deficit would be in our favor (well, dis-favor technically).

[Me.]

10. See, One Of The Reasons I'm Suspicious Is Politico

They've been going on about this and why Dems should be worried etc. for a while now

[HotTeaBag]

13. Yeah, I see your point.

I guess I chalk it up (at least in my mind) to the same reticence we should feel about polling - that it doesn't matter what the numbers say, we're not going to be safe until he's voted out of office.

Same thing with voter registration, in that it feels like this shouldn't be true, but if it is and we discount it we are playing with fire.

[packman]

2. I'd like to agree with you, but-

I really think Repukes can't think that deep. They act on a visceral , primitive, reptilian level - hate the gays, hate the blacks, hate the uppity women, hate the foreign born, etc., etc. That they deal in subtleties not their forte.

[usaf-vet]

4. Leadership thinks that deep. Trump certainly isn't guiding their strategy......

...... someone is crunching their voting data if their numbers work out to their advantage no matter who dies. SO BE IT!

[brush]

5. If the virus is cutting Dem voter registrations, why not repug registrations?

I'm not sure about those numbers.

[Tennessee Hillbilly]

6. Probably because ...

most of the repugs are already registered. It's the younger voters who mainly need to be registered and they would tend to vote democratic.

[Me.]

11. Especially As Most Of The Sirges Are In Red States

excepting California.

[usaf-vet]

12. I can give you one answer. From my perspective. I live in a community that is basically Democratic

I can give you one answer. From my perspective. I live in a community that is basically Democratic the majority of the member of this community follow rules and policies that protect us all.

We have had less than 10 proven CoVid cases since January. ONE death. And a good contact tracing system.

Recently we had an out of town group rental a facility for an event. From that one event, we have had reportedly 18 CoVid "issues".

Three restaurants have had to close (again) because of attendees of the event spread out and went out to eat with reportedly no masks. Recent evidence strongly suggests that the event organizer WAS found to be CoVid-19 POSITIVE before the event and attend anyway. Even though they were supposed to be in self-quarantine.

I will grant you that this is all first-hand info with an investigation underway.

As I suggested from my post others have reported the reduction in Democratic registration. I posed the question if there is STATISTICAL data that shows reduced numbers. IS it possible that the republicans have perceived this as an advantage to the CoVid-19 affecting democratic turn out to register and eventually vote? They are fighting mail-in voting as dangerous using their old voter fraud scare tactic. Recently leaving Wisconsin voters the only option in the last election to stand in line for hours in the middle of a raging pandemic to cast a vote.

I don't know about every republican in the country but in my mind, the numbers of positive cases and the number of death CLEARLY rest on the desk where the buck stops. Trump has blamed everyone including the former President for the spread of CoVid-19. He has said he takes NO responsibility for this pandemic and the deaths. If that wasn't bad enough he suggest we should STOP testing that would lower the numbers.

Just think scientists have been working for years in many cases spending federal tax dollars to find cures for cancer, MS, diabetes, genetic birth defects, and dozens of other diseases.

ALL we had to do is stop testing. BINGO no more cancer and the rest of the killer diseases.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Still Not Convinced Registration Gap Is A Problem

The big turnaround in '18 was, in large, part the registration and GOTV effort.
After a fairly large advantage is gained, the pool of available new registrations is very likely smaller.
So, a smaller absolute increase doesn't feel like that big a problem.
Besides, there's over 3 months left.

[judeling]

14. Not as worried as I was.

The George Floyd inspired protests have changed the dynamic. Most of the shut down data covered the normal surge period associated with primaries in normal cycles, that is March, April, and most of May. Up until that point we were running and advantage.

Since that time the D and as important Independent registrations have started to resume. I expect that as the virus continues to spread into redder areas that disparity will dissipate more and more. But look at FL where we are starting to build an advantage.