Delaware State News
DOVER — Democrats outgained Republicans in state voter registration numbers during the last month by a 10-1 margin, further tilting Delaware toward solid "blue-state" status.
More than 20,600 people either switched their party affiliation or registered as Democrats, compared to a 2,000-person gain for Republicans from Sept. 1 to Oct. 1, according to totals from the Department of Elections.
Overall, Democrats saw their lead in registration of total voters grow from 44.4 percent to 46 percent (270,387), while Republicans dropped 1 percent to 30.6 percent (180,078).
"This certainly seems to mirror national trends, which are depressing for Republicans," said Delaware State University political science professor Dr. Samuel B. Hoff.
Once a "purple" state that was relatively close in party registration, Delaware now leans heavily Democratic or "blue," reducing the First State’s traditional bellwether standing when it more closely mirrored national voting trends.
Unaffiliated and third-party voters make up the remaining 23.4 percent of the registered population.
"Republican registration numbers are closer to third-party numbers than to Democrats," Dr. Hoff said.
For decades, the First State’s popular vote closely reflected national results, making it an indicator of how the country was going to vote. Delaware went Democratic in the last two presidential elections despite Republican President Bush winning both times. However, former vice president Al Gore won the national popular vote in 2000.
State Democratic Party spokesman Joe Sheeran attributed the spike in registration numbers to excitement for Democratic candidates up and down the ticket.
"From the bottom of the ticket up, we have folks on the ground at every level," Mr. Sheeran said, adding that the campaign for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has been working to register voters.
The Obama for Delaware campaign is being led by Marla Blunt-Carter, a former staffer for Sen. Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del.
Another factor that might have helped drive up Democratic registration numbers, in addition to hometown cheering for Sen. Biden, was the gubernatorial primary between Lt. Gov. John C. Carney Jr. and state Treasurer Jack A. Markell.
Mr. Markell won the potentially divisive Sept. 9 contest, but the high-profile primary drew a lot of attention to the Democratic Party and might have swayed people to register or change their affiliation.
"There were a number of Republicans who were excited to vote in the primary and switched registration and probably just stayed (Democratic)," Dr. Hoff said.
"Republicans have to focus on strategy to win this election year. To win in November, they need to work on conversion and new registration. But with registration, they haven’t shown an ability to do it.
"It seems to be an uphill climb … It’s not that Republican candidates can’t win, several have done it for several years in Democratic-controlled districts. It just becomes enormously tough to do that over and over."
State Republican Party executive director Seth Wimer said the GOP is well aware of the trend, but is focused on winning with strong candidates who provide constituent services.
"I think that strong candidates, strong messages, and strong campaigns will make up the deficit in November," Mr. Wimer said.
"If you look at some of our legislative candidates, they are in seats that lean Democratic, but because they are effective legislators who serve their districts exceptionally well, they’ll continue to be re-elected."
Dr. Hoff said Republicans have one thing working in their favor: Delaware voters traditionally split their tickets and don’t always vote straight down one political-party column.
But they must do something to capture those voters.
"They need to give people a reason to split their ticket," Dr. Hoff said. "They need to convince them that split-ticket voting is not a sin and differentiate themselves on the issues to give (candidates) more traction."
Whatever the reason for the tremendous gain in registration numbers, Mr. Sheeran said the Democratic Party is not resting on its laurels.
And just because someone has switched their registration to Democratic, it does not mean that they are informed about all the candidates.
"We need to make sure those folks know about the rest of our candidates," Mr. Sheeran said.
"If a person in Kent County signed up because of Obama, we need to make sure they know about (House candidates) Brad Bennett or Darryl Scott, or (Senate candidates) Brian Bushweller or Harold Stafford."
