(PresidentialInsider.com)- What once was a huge weapon Democrats held over Republicans in elections is now disappearing right before their eyes.
In many of the projected battleground states for the 2022 midterm elections, the advantages in voter registration Democrats used to hold are starting to narrow. Now, many among the liberals are very concerned about Republicans winning big at the polls.
Democrats used to hold huge voter registration advantages in states such as Pennsylvania and North Carolina, but those margins have closed substantially in the last two years.
Compared to October 2019, the advantage Democrats have in North Carolina has shrunk by more than 140,000 registered voters. What’s worse, there are fewer active voters who are registered as a Democrat in North Carolina than there were just six years ago.
Two years ago in Pennsylvania, Democrats had an edge of 813,885 voters. That number now sits at roughly 632,000 people.
The biggest swing state — and seemingly most problematic for Democrats — is Florida. In the last two years alone, Democrats’ advantage in the Sunshine State has decreased by more than 200,000 voters. In fact, Democrats hold a very slim margin over Democrats of fewer than 24,000 registered voters.
While some battleground states such as Arizona have swung over to the left in recent years, it may not be enough to overcome the losses Democrats are experiencing in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida and others.
Democrats only hold a very slim margin in the House, while the Senate is evenly split, with liberals holding the tie-breaking vote since they control the White House. As such, Republicans won’t need to flip too many seats to retake control of both chambers of Congress.
One of Florida’s members of the Democratic National Committee, Thomas Kennedy, commented on the situation:
“Obviously, it’s concerning. There are alarm bells ringing, and I think the party and different groups are taking notice and trying to fill in the gaps.”
There are “a confluence of factors” to blame for the trend being seen in Florida and other states, Kennedy said. A main reason is the GOP has heavily invested in getting more voters registered. In Florida alone, Governor Ron DeSantis has invested about $2 million into voter registration programs in the state for the GOP.
Kennedy explained:
“I do think that the Republicans have put a lot of emphasis on voter registration. For Democrats, there hasn’t been a robust voter registration operation like there needs to be in Florida since the Obama era. There’s this emphasis on third-party groups and nonprofits filling in that gap.”
Voter registration numbers don’t always correctly predict the outcome of elections, of course, and Florida is a great example of that. Republicans have won narrow races in recent years, even though Democrats held a large advantage in registered voters in the state.
This points to the fact that Republicans tend to have much higher rates of voter turnout than Democrats do. Add even more registered GOP voters to the tally, and it could spell doom for liberals in 2022 and beyond.
