RED WAVE RISING: GOP Voter Registration Soars in Key States
From the moment that Joe Biden ascended to the office of the President, there was talk of a “red wave” coming to Congress in the 2022 midterms.
The sheer angst of the MAGA wing of the Republican Party was part and parcel to this feeling, with many believing to this day that Donald Trump was cheated out of a second term by some unseen, guiding force. Knowing that they’ll be back to vote with a vengeance in 2022 already creates the potential for some very heavy GOP vote totals.
But now, as pollsters begin taking a look at the pre-election voter registration data, there are other indicators arriving that seem to be good news for the Republicans.
Republicans have made serious gains in voter registration, sharply cutting into Democrat advantages across key battleground states since November 2020, according to data from Secretaries of State in Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, and Nevada.
The data, officially reported by Secretaries of State in these key battleground states, show a swing of nearly half a million votes—more than 480,000—toward the Republicans across just five battleground states in voter registration margins.
And just how big a swing are we talking about?
In Pennsylvania, for instance, back on election day in 2020, the Democrats enjoyed a 685,818 registered voter advantage over Republicans. Now, the GOP has cut that advantage down to just 563,393 registered voters—a swing of 122,425 voters in the Republican direction in the Keystone State. That swing is mostly represented by a drop of more than 200,000 registered Democrats—but also the registering of tens of thousands of new Republicans—in Pennsylvania since 2020. This data is published weekly by the Secretary of State of Pennsylvania, and is available on the government website. The swing is also one and a half times the 80,555 vote margin by which Democrat President Joe Biden defeated now former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania–a hugely positive sign for Trump if he runs again in 2024, and a positive sign for Republicans as they aim to hold the U.S. Senate seat that Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) is retiring from and retake the governor’s mansion this year.
Advertisement - story continues belowPennsylvania is hardly the only state in which this is happening. According to the latest data as of the end of March from the Florida Secretary of State, Republicans actually outnumber Democrats in the Sunshine State for the first time ever. As of March 31, 2022, Republicans lead Democrats by 111,535 registered voters. The GOP first took the lead last year in 2021, but have expanded that lead significantly this year—important for the reelection prospects of GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis in a state that has been trending more red in recent elections since Trump’s 2016 and 2020 wins there.
It’s beginning to look like that “red wave” is less of a rumor and more of an inevitability with each passing week.
