Democratic registration surges

by: Juan Melli

Tue May 27, 2008 at 04:26:26 PM EDT

Six months ago Republicans held a registration advantage over Democrats in 6 of the state's 13 Congressional districts. Today, they lead in just two.

Over half a million voters registered as Democrats since late 2007. The 512,508 newly-registered Democrats represents a 48% increase in registered Democrats in New Jersey. In 2007, 24.9% of registered voters were declared Democrats while 19.3% were Republicans. Today, 35.8% are Democrats and 22.2% are Republicans. Unaffiliated and other voters dropped from 54.2% to 42%.

Thanks to the surge in partisan affiliation, Democrats now hold a partisan registration advantage in four additional Congressional districts that were previously dominated by Republicans: NJ-2 (LoBiondo (R)), NJ-3 (Saxton (R)), NJ-4 (Smith (R)), NJ-7 (Ferguson (R)). That advantage will be incredibly helpful for GOTV efforts, especially in the very competitive 3rd and 7th districts.

The greatest gains for Democrats came in NJ-3, NJ-4, NJ-11 and NJ-12 which each saw Democratic registration increase by over 60%. Republicans now hold a partisan registration advantage in just two districts: NJ-5 (Garrett (R)) and NJ-11 (Frelinghuysen (R)). In the 5th, the Republican registration advantage dropped from about 51,000 to 31,000 and in the 11th it dropped from about 66,000 to 46,000.

"This is more than a trend, it's a remarkable increase in Democratic voters that will have a lasting impact," said Democratc State Committee chairman Joe Cryan. "The people can't wait to bring the Bush era to an end and the best way to do that is to elect Democrats. It's not enough that the Bush Administration is coming to a close, the voters are rejecting everything with the Republican brand name."

Republican registration increased by a more modest 18% which means the partisan advantage for Democrats more than doubled from 240,089 to 600,723.

Juan Melli :: Democratic registration surges

Tags: NJ11, NJ7, NJ5, NJ4, NJ3, NJ2, partisan registration, (All Tags)

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Democratic registration surges | 2 comments

An even bigger Happiness Day (4.00 / 1)

I thought the day Fergie decided to drop out was my happiness day. But reading that the 7th is now Democratic in voter registration is truly something I didn't anticipate.

A true Happiness Day for us all!!

by: the pollster @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 01:50:08 AM UTC

In Wayne, (4.00 / 1)

more than 2,000 people registered as Democrats before or on primary election day. (That figure inclues both new registrants and already-registered voters who affiliated with a poliitcal party for the first time.)

Primary-cycle registration narrowed the GOP's advantage to barely 2,500 in a population of almost 34,000 registered voters. (The current numbers: 8321 D, 10876 R, 14456 U.)

Our common task, state-wide, is to reach those folks this year a build a Democratic identity deeper than merely that of somoene who wanted to vote in "the primary that mattered" this time around. If we can do that -- and it's shoe-leather work -- the result will be a lasting change in the electorate and in the governments it elects.

by: John Bartlett @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 05:42:50 AM UTC