Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 7
Democrats’ voter registration advantage has dropped in three key battleground states — Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nevada — raising a red flag for Vice President Harris as experts cite a lack of enthusiasm for the Biden administration brand and the Democratic Party, generally, as problems.
In Arizona, another key battleground state, Republicans have seen their voter registration advantage increase substantially, which could make it tougher for Harris to carry a state President Biden narrowly won in 2020.
Other presidential battleground states, including Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, do not register voters by party.
The shift in voter registration away from Democrats in Pennsylvania and North Carolina may explain why the Harris campaign has tacked to the center on issues such as fracking and tax policy.
In Nevada, Democrats have seen their voter registration advantage drop, though Harris, unlike those other states, maintains a clear lead over former President Trump in the polling averages.
“If you look at the changes from 2020 to 2024, Democrats are down about 300,000 voters and Republicans are up about 70,000. Nonaffiliated independent voters are up about 83,000, 85,000 voters,” said Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania.
David Paleologos, the director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University in Boston, said Democrats had about a 666,000-person voter registration advantage over Republicans in Pennsylvania in 2020, which has shrunk to a 354,000-person advantage in 2024. He said the Democrats’ voter registration advantage in North Carolina has shrunk from 393,000 voters in 2020 to approximately 130,000 voters in 2024.
Source: The Hill
