Politics
PA Democrats See 103% Increase In Voters Leaving Party As Registration Lead Crumbles
A brand new report from Newsweek has revealed that while the key battleground state of Pennsylvania still has more registered Democrat voters than any other party, the number of voters who are leaving it has increased dramatically. More than twice as many switched to different party affiliations compared to last year, including many who have thrown their lot in with Republicans, according to voting data released by the state.
Pennsylvania is a critical swing state for the 2024 election and both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are going head-to-head in order to secure the 19 electoral votes it offers. Whoever takes Pennsylvania could end up the winner of the race for the White House. Newsweek reports:
Trump narrowly won Pennsylvania in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, while President Joe Biden flipped it in 2020. The race in the state is expected to be decided by a few thousand votes, and both major party candidates have been repeatedly campaigning there. Weekly updated data provided by Pennsylvania’s Department of State shows the party breakdown of registered voters in the state as of Monday: 3,958,835 Democrats, 3,646,110 Republicans, 1,085,677 unaffiliated and 346,211 with “other” affiliations. The data reports a notable shift in party registrations, showing that Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party has experienced a 103 percent increase in members leaving the party this year, compared with last year.
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Last year, 19,321 voters from the state switched from Democrat to “other,” while a whopping 36,341 went from the Democratic Party over to the GOP side of the aisle. In total, in 2023, 55,662 Democrats abandoned the party. For 2024, the data reveals that 51,937 Democrats have changed their affiliation to “other,” while 61,126 became Republicans, which equals a total of 113,063 leaving the party:
On the other hand, Republicans have seen a significant but smaller number of members leave the party, with 29,038 registered Republicans changing their affiliation—13,196 to “other” and 15,842 to Democrat—in 2023. This year, 48,702 Republicans switched parties, with 24,046 changing to “other” and 24,656 becoming Democrats, around a 67 percent increase in Republicans leaving the party. Most Pennsylvania polls show a narrow margin between the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, with leads fluctuating within the margin of error, making the state a toss-up.
The best path to victory for Harris is to take all three of the “blue wall” battleground states, which consists of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Trump on the other hand needs to win North Carolina, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
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