Recent statistics indicate that Republican voter registration in Pennsylvania is significantly outpacing that of Democrats, with the GOP seeing a surge in July 2024. Over 21,000 Republicans registered compared to just 5,000 Democrats during the same month.
Since November 2020, the Democratic voter base in Pennsylvania has shrunk by over 320,000, while Republican registrations have contracted by a much lesser amount—about 1,400 voters.
Pennsylvania, along with 29 other states, requires voters to register with a political party, leaving those who choose not to affiliate as unaffiliated voters.
In general, the number of registered voters has decreased by three million since the end of 2020, a decline attributed in part to the National Voting Rights Act, which permits states to clean up their voter rolls.
On a national level, Democrats have lost around 3.5 million registered voters, whereas Republicans have gained approximately 141,000 over the same period.
Notably, in 28 out of the 30 states that mandate party registration, Republicans are ahead in net voter registrations, accumulating over 225,000 new registrations just in the first three weeks of July.
In Florida, for instance, Republicans outnumber Democrats by a million, boasting 5.3 million registered Republican voters against 4.3 million Democrats, as reported by AP News.
Evan Power, chair of the Florida Republican Party, celebrated this significant registration advantage as a notable victory. However, Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried dismissed this claim, asserting that such numbers result from GOP efforts to undermine voting rights rather than genuine party strength.
Amid these disparities, there are signs that Democrats could see a rise in voter registrations following President Biden’s conclusion of his re-election campaign, suggesting a potential uptick in August.
The lead-up to elections usually sees a spike in voter registration, with over 6 million new registrations recorded in the three months prior to the 2020 elections, according to various state election boards.
Mike Stewart/AP