 March 26, 2008
Posted: 04:00 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Pennsylvania isn't the only state seeing a surge in newly-minted Democrats. North Carolina, which votes on May 6, has also seen its voter rolls expanding. Republicans and Independents in Pennsylvania are signing up in droves to vote in the April 22 Democratic primary. Last week alone, more than 29,000 Pennsylvanians registered to vote as Democrats. More than four million Pennsylvanians are now registered as Democrats – a new state record. Almost 90,000 new voters have signed up to vote in the North Carolina Democratic primary, which is semi-closed — meaning Democrats and unaffiliated voters can participate, but not Republicans. Since the beginning of January, the number of registered Democrats in North Carolina has grown by over 40,000 voters, bringing the total number of Democrats in the state to 2,552,674. Almost half of those registered Democrats are African-American. The tally of unaffiliated voters grew by more than 30,000. There are now 1.2 million unaffiliated voters in the state who can participate in either party’s primary.
In the same three month period, the number of registered Republicans increased by a much smaller margin — just 15,000 people — bringing the total amount of GOP voters in the state to just over 1.9 million. That’s not the only problem for the state Republican party. A survey released by Pew Research last week showed that 26 percent of North Carolina registered voters now identify themselves as Republicans, down from 35 percent in 2004. The figure for Democrats has remained steady at 39 percent, according to the Pew survey. — CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby
Filed under: North Carolina |
 
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