Democratic voting numbers declining
Published 6:00 pm Tuesday, July 11, 2017
T
he Democratic Party is continuing to lose voters in Louisiana, while the numbers of Republican and independent voters have grown over the last 16 years. However, there are 1.3 million Democrats still registered, along with 896,508 Republicans and 768,309 independents.
Most of the independents are actually registered as other party or no party. The state has a relatively new Independent Party, but no breakdown of its membership.
JMC Analytics and Polling has compiled voter registration data that compares the changes made during the George W. Bush (2001), Barack Obama (2009) and Donald Trump (2017) presidential inauguration years. The Louisiana company provides candidates and issue advocacy groups with information on public opinion polling, voter targeting and redistricting.
Voter registration information used by the company is available on the secretary of state’s website (www.sos.la.gov).
White voters make up 64 percent of the registration, and black voters represent 31 percent. The other 5 percent are Asian or Hispanic, and there are higher numbers of them in 11 of the 64 parishes.
JMC notes that four voting trends have emerged. White Democrats are vanishing, Republican gains are steady, the electorate is more diverse and independent numbers are rising.
In 2001, white Democrats made up 35 percent of the total (951,000). The percentage dropped to 26 percent (763,000) in 2009 and 19 percent (552,000) this past January. The monthly decline since then has been 1,437, compared to 2,196 per month during the Obama years and 1,962 per month during the Bush years.
Republicans totaled 22 percent in 2001, 25 percent in 2009 and 30 percent in January. Independent registration has climbed from 18 percent in 2001 to 26 percent on July 1.
Republicans saw their numbers increase during the Obama years, but independents have out registered them since Trump took office. JMC said the independent lead has come entirely from black independents.
The trend towards increasing numbers of independent voters isn’t reflected in the makeup of the state Legislature. The House has 60 Republicans, 40 Democrats, only 3 independents and two seats are vacant. The Senate has 25 Republicans, 14 Democrats and no independents.
Perhaps the most disturbing trend is the declining number of voters who bother to cast their ballots. Policymakers don’t seem to have a solution for that growing problem.
