Study: Democratic voters on the rise in New York
From Jon Campbell of the Gannett Albany Bureau:
Fifty-one of 62 Senate districts saw an increase in registered Democrats since the 2008 elections, with the party now having an advantage in five districts that formerly had more Republicans, according to analysis the New York Public Interest Research Group released today.
Statewide, 2.7 million voters are registered as Republicans, down by about 90,000 in 2008. Democrats have gained about 1,500 voters over the same time period to bring their total to 5.2 million. The number of independent and third-party voters is down by 182,828 over the past 18 months.
No districts switched from having more Democrats to more Republicans, records show. Overall, registered voters dropped statewide from 12 million in 2008 to a current total of 11.7 million.
Republican Senators – three from Long Island and Sen. James Alesi, R-Perinton, Monroe County—currently represent four of the five districts that now have more Democrats. The third Senate district is already controlled by a Democrat, Sen. Brian Foley, D-Blue Point, Suffolk County.
NYPIRG spokesman Bill Mahoney said the numbers don’t necessarily tell the whole story, however.
“We don’t know, for example, how many people have decided that they align more with one party than another but they just haven’t bothered to change their registration,” he said.
“The average voter certainly won’t go out of their way to change their registration.
“But it is an intriguing picture, because most of the stories that we have heard for the past year and a half were that voters are migrating to the right, but these numbers indicate that is not as absolute a fact as a lot of people think it is.”
The Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate, controlling 32 seat to the Republicans’ 30.
The group compared enrollment numbers provided by the state Board of Elections from April 1 to those from November 1, 2008.
| 
Email This
Advertisements
these registration figures are misleading..they are
a hang over from the Obama enthusiasm in the 2008
general election..as rob astorino demonstrated in
westchester and as mangano demonstrated in nassau
there is great disaffection with the democratic party
in formerly democratic strongholds…who would have thought
that two long term democrats like spano and suozi would
have been dislodged..but they were and this year will
be a continuation of that trend..democrats will lose
and republicans with the correct message will win..
It sounds to me like more Republicans are leaving the state in droves than Democrats.
Why would any sentient being, regardless of his/her party affiliation, not pack-in the incompetent governance of NYS and move to Greenwich if they could afford it?
Well, 100% of all bloggers – 3 people – assert that the facts are NOT the facts, i.e. there are more people who identify with Democratic party ideals and policies in New York. A lot more. There just aren’t any of them on this blog. So, as you all tut-tut-tut about what you don’t like, keep in mind the majority of voters DO NOT AGREE WITH YOU.
By the way, while Astorino and Castelli won legit races, how bout all the other Democratic wins in other places? They don’t count? Sheesh…this blog is all, I repeat, all one-sided.