Flip Side of Democrats' Spat: Higher Turnout: Dems top 4 mllion registered voters in Pennsylvania

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: ANALYSIS
Flip Side of Democrats' Spat: Higher Turnout
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 26, 2008; Page A08


Large Democratic turnouts at caucuses and primaries, as in Nebraska in February, have swelled voter rolls and could help the party in the general election. (Dave Weaver/AP)

The conventional wisdom that a prolonged race for the Democratic presidential nomination between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton is bad news for their party may be turning on its head.

Figures released by Pennsylvania's Department of State on Monday night showed that Democrats have topped 4 million registered voters, the first time either party in the state has crossed that threshold. Democrats have added 161,000 to their rolls, a gain of about 4 percent; Republican registration has dipped about 1 percent, to 3.2 million. That is consistent with the pattern since the beginning of the year: Democratic turnout in primaries and caucuses has topped Republican turnout, often by huge differences.

In Ohio, 2.2 million voters participated in the Democratic primary, compared with 1.1 million in the Republican primary. In Texas, 2.9 million voters turned out for the Democratic primary and 1.4 million for the GOP primary. Even in Florida, where the Republican primary was one of the most hotly contested of the year and the Democratic primary featured no active campaigning by the candidates, GOP turnout was only marginally higher: 1.9 million vs. 1.7 million.

These turnout figures match what pollsters have found as they have surveyed the electorate throughout the year: The gap between Democratic and Republican identification has grown dramatically.

The Pew Research Center offered fresh evidence of this last week with a report that aggregated interviews with 5,566 voters during the first two months of the year. It found that 36 percent of respondents identified themselves as Democrats and 27 percent called themselves Republicans, a drop of 6 percentage points since the 2004 election. The report noted that, on an annualized basis, this is the lowest GOP identification in 16 years of surveys.

It's not that Democratic identification is up so much as Republican registration is down. But among independents, Pew reported, there is now a decided advantage for Democrats. Far more of these independents say they tilt toward the Democratic Party than toward the GOP. When all the figures are put together -- hard-core party identifiers and "leaners" -- Democrats have an edge of 51 percent to 37 percent, and that's up three points just in the last year.

What all this means is that the combination of dissatisfaction with President Bush, a diminished Republican brand and a compelling contest for the Democratic presidential nomination has created a huge pool of voters for the eventual nominee -- and other Democratic candidates -- to go after in the fall....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/25/AR2008032502428_pf.html

[SharonRB]

1. This is partially due to the Republicans who are crossing over

to screw with our primaries. We saw it in Ohio and we'll see it in PA.

[Eurobabe]

3. Echo below.

:hi:

My thoughts exactly, I am from PA. I know the CONS in the suburbs. They are truly devious.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. But let's not ignore the good news, nationwide --

"The Pew Research Center offered fresh evidence of this last week with a report that aggregated interviews with 5,566 voters during the first two months of the year. It found that 36 percent of respondents identified themselves as Democrats and 27 percent called themselves Republicans, a drop of 6 percentage points since the 2004 election. The report noted that, on an annualized basis, this is the lowest GOP identification in 16 years of surveys.

It's not that Democratic identification is up so much as Republican registration is down. But among independents, Pew reported, there is now a decided advantage for Democrats. Far more of these independents say they tilt toward the Democratic Party than toward the GOP. When all the figures are put together -- hard-core party identifiers and "leaners" -- Democrats have an edge of 51 percent to 37 percent, and that's up three points just in the last year.

What all this means is that the combination of dissatisfaction with President Bush, a diminished Republican brand and a compelling contest for the Democratic presidential nomination has created a huge pool of voters for the eventual nominee -- and other Democratic candidates -- to go after in the fall...."

[Eurobabe]

2. I have to wonder though

are Repubes switching registrations to vote for Hillary because they want her as the nominee?

:shrug: