California Globe: Democrats In A ‘Death Cycle’ As Voter Registration Plunges to New Lows

For the first time since 2018, fewer and fewer Americans are choosing to be Democrats

By Megan Barth,
Originally published by California Globe

A recent article in the NY Times summarized a study that found Democrats are hemorrhaging voters, so much so that in four short years during the Biden administration, Republicans erased registration advantages in all 30 states that track voter registration by party, including the key swing states of Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

“That four-year swing toward the Republicans adds up to 4.5 million voters, a deep political hole that could take years for Democrats to climb out from,” the Times reports. The Times analysis found that “fewer and fewer Americans are choosing to be Democrats,” for the first time since 2018.

The analysis used voter registration data compiled by L2, a nonpartisan data firm, and found that between the elections of 2020 and 2024, Democrats lost 2.1 million voters compared to Republicans’ gain of  2.4 million voters. “Democrats went from nearly an 11-percentage-point edge over Republicans on Election Day 2020 in those places with partisan registration, to just over a 6-percentage-point edge in 2024.”

In swing states like Nevada and North Carolina, Democrats are on life support as registration advantages have plunged. Representing a cross-section of age groups and demographics, voters have resoundingly rejected the rhetoric and policies espoused by the Biden administration and the Democrat party at large.

The Times reports that “In North Carolina, Republicans erased roughly 95 percent of the registration advantage that Democrats held in the fall of 2020, according to state records as of this summer. In Nevada, Democrats suffered the steepest percentage-point plunge of any state but West Virginia between 2020 and 2024.”

“I don’t want to say, ‘The death cycle of the Democratic Party,’ but there seems to be no end to this,” said Michael Pruser, who tracks voter registration closely as the director of data science for Decision Desk HQ, an election-analysis site. “There is no silver lining or cavalry coming across the hill. This is month after month, year after year.”

The analysis also found Republicans made significant gains among men and younger voters who “swung sharply” for President Trump. Overall in 2024, Republicans gained nine percentage points and Democrats lost eight percentage points.

The saying “Go Woke, Go Broke” has been used in the latest political culture wars where the victims, like Bud Light and Jaguar, created marketing strategies that alienated their core customers. After a billion dollar loss, Bud Light quickly realized that their core customers, male beer drinkers, preferred the iconic Clydesdales or frogs and lizards of Budweiser’s memorable 80’s campaign over a man cosplaying a woman sipping a personalized beer.

If Dylan Mulvaney couldn’t boost Bud Light’s brand, attacking Sydney Sweeney’s great jeans isn’t going to save the Democratic party. Who would have guessed that a majority of young men seemingly prefer Sydney Sweeney’s jeans over Dylan Mulvaney’s pearls?

If Tim Walz’s camouflage hat or a queer, disabled, morbidly-obese female Democratic influencer isn’t attracting young men and new voters, Democrats are going to have to dig deeper to market their brand and policies, instead of digging a deeper hole filled with fringe and cringe brand ambassadors.

Yet, on the heels of this blue blood bath, Democrats are reportedly “flummoxed and divided” over what to do. Before 2028, they should figure out what not to do.

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